A man who ripped off an international adoption agency is scheduled for sentencing in February

Dec 21, 2014

Sentencing date set in adoption agency fraud case

By Brian Caldwell

KITCHENER — A man who ripped off an international adoption agency is scheduled for sentencing in February.

Rick Hayhow, 50, pleaded guilty last month to one count of fraud involving almost $87,000 in personal expenses charged on a corporate credit card to Imagine Adoption between 2007 and 2009.

Hayhow was in charge of finances for the Cambridge agency, while his former wife, Susan Hayhow, 48, was founder and executive director.

The agency went into bankruptcy in summer 2009, leaving about 400 families across Canada in limbo at various stages of the costly adoption process, mostly from Ethiopia.

Susan Hayhow still faces fraud charges related to personal expenses in the 2 ½ years prior to the collapse of the non-profit Christian agency, which was later restructured under new management.

A second trial — the first ended in a mistrial in June after the discovery of new evidence — isn't scheduled to begin until next summer

A statement of facts submitted in Kitchener court specified Rick Hayhow paid back almost $15,000, leaving a loss of just over $72,000.

The agreed facts also quoted the opinion of bankruptcy trustees that Imagine failed under the Hayhows due to "possible misuse of funds," along with rapid growth and limited management oversight.

A date of Feb. 13 was set for a sentencing hearing when Rick Hayhow appeared Friday in a scheduling court in Kitchener.