VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – A Daytona Beach woman was arrested last week after being accused of “adoption fraud,” according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
FDLE said that Melinda Myles, 31, had agreed to place her child for adoption while she was pregnant, receiving financial assistance from the prospective adoptive parents in return.
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In an affidavit, agents said that during the 2022 pregnancy, Myles had an open case with the Department of Children and Families regarding her other four children, and so she opted to terminate her parental rights over the prenatal child.
Myles had originally asked the prospective parents to be present at the child’s birth, but before the birth happened, she told the couple that she had COVID-19 to keep them from coming to the hospital, the affidavit shows.
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While at the hospital, Myles told a hospital social worker that she had changed her mind about the adoption, agents said.
The child was born on May 26, and Myles then told both the prospective parents and the adoption agency they were working with that DCF had taken custody of the child and placed the newborn in the custody of its paternal grandmother.
It was eventually discovered, however, that Myles had been involved with two other adoption agencies, despite still asking for financial support from the adoption agency she was already working with, the affidavit claims.
Additionally, it was revealed that there was no indication Myles had tested positive for COVID-19 based on her medical records, according to law enforcement.
Investigators said that four of Myles’ children had been put into foster care amid Myles’ substance abuse issues, another was with their biological father, and a sixth in 2020 was adopted out with involuntary termination of Myles’ parental rights.
Myles had originally surrendered the four children to DCF in 2021 in the hopes that she could regain custody in the future if she could better her living conditions. After learning that she was pregnant with an unplanned child, though, she agreed to put the child up for adoption.
Investigators, however, said Myles later learned that there was not an open DCF case involving her unborn child, so she might be able to keep custody of it. After going into labor, she told the prospective parents that she was going to retain custody, court records reveal.
During her pregnancies in 2020 and 2022, she had been involved with five different adoption agencies, investigators added.
Between Feb. 21 and May 29 in the 2022 pregnancy, Myles received more than $11,000 from the prospective parents, court records show. The adoption agency paid her approximately $1,250 in rent and utilities, the affidavit shows.
In total, Myles benefited from over $27,000 in paid expenses over the course of three fraudulent planned adoptions, FDLE announced.
Myles faces charges of an organized scheme to defraud and two counts of adoption deception. She was released Thursday evening on a bond of $20,000.
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