Imagine Adoption Fraud Update

Big news in the adoption community...particularly for families who adopted through Imagine Adoption agency and who experienced its devastating bankruptcy in 2009, allegedly at the hands of the CEO and her husband, who was the CFO.  I guess with the CFO we no longer have to say that he allegedly committed fraud against families and the agency because he's pleading guilty now to fraud over $5,000.  We families have always known it...but it's nice, so nice, to hear that he's owning it now, too.

More news to come this evening, apparently.  Sue Hayhow is (I believe) still scheduled to go to (re)trial in June'15.

Here's the link to the CTV News site, where both the brief article and the video clip are shared:  Rick Hayhow Pleads Guilty.  I can't get the video clip to show up here on my blog, but if you click on that link you can watch it; interestingly, towards the end of the video clip, I can see the back of my head (with the longish hair) and shoulders; reporters must have taken that shot of the creditors' meeting that I attended in the summer of 2009 in Kitchener/Waterloo.

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Rick Hayhow pleads guilty to fraud charge in Imagine Adoption case

CTV Kitchener
Published Friday, November 28, 2014 12:15PM EST 
Last Updated Friday, November 28, 2014 12:48PM EST

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One of the two people accused of committing fraud while heading up an adoption agency has pleaded guilty to one count of fraud over $5,000.

Rick Hayhow entered his plea Friday afternoon in a Kitchener courtroom.

Hayhow was the general manager of Imagine Adoption, which went bankrupt in 2009.

Prosecutors have alleged that he – and his ex-wife, Imagine Adoption executive director Susan Hayhow – used $420,000 of the agency’s money to finance home renovations and other personal expenses.

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A jury trial was held earlier this year for both Hayhows, but a mistrial was declared after eight days and a new trial ordered.

Susan Hayhow was not present during Friday’s proceedings. Her case remains before the courts, separate from Rick Hawhow’s plea.

When Imagine Adoption suddenly declared bankruptcy, hundreds of families were in the midst of adoption processes through the agency – some of which never continued.

More to come.