Adoption scammer pleads guilty
By COLBY FRAZIER — July 3, 2009
A former Montecito businessman who swindled $800,000 from 59 hopeful parents through his adoption business, pleaded guilty in Superior Court yesterday to 17 felonies and a white-collar crime enhancement.
Wearing a light-blue shirt, dark pants and a tie, with shackles around his hands and feet, the defendant, Orson Mozes, said plainly that he was guilty, and acknowledged he felt “very comfortable” with the plea bargain he had negotiated with prosecutors.
Although the man won’t be sentenced until July 14, Senior Deputy District Attorney Paula Waldman said he most likely would be sentenced to three years and four months in state prison, with three years of parole. Mozes, 57, also faces a civil lawsuit in the state of Pennsylvania that was jointly filed by 17 of the adoption scam victims. Additionally, Mozes conceded to forfeit $300,000 in cash and gold coins that were seized from his Florida home. The funds will be used to repay the victims, some of whom, Waldman said, are owed amounts as high as $75,000.