Sound Off Louisiana

Criag Mills and his family.

In our latest Sound Off Louisiana feature, we continue our investigative series entailing Craig Mills and his unfortunate experience as the alleged victim of an adoption scam.  In this segment, Mills provides the names of folk with whom he has frustrations in various agencies of Louisiana law enforcement to include Paul Edmonson of Louisiana State Police (LSP) and many others.  Here’s our latest installment of the Mills adoption scam investigative series:

Mills vents his frustrations with law enforcement entailing his alleged adoption scam and those of others.

Supporting Documents and Links:

The late-breaking article on the Central couple apparently being victims of a HUGE adoption scam.  As the author of the preceding article points out, if, by chance, the mother changed her mind and decided to keep the baby, then no law has been broken.  However, given the text messages on display in the article, it is highly unlikely that’s the case and the birth mother simply used this couple as leverage and, when they would not agree to cosign on a note for a trailer, these are two text messages which the birth mother sent back upon being informed that the adopting parents would not agree to cosign on such a promissory note:

“Yea, imma start looking for another family.”

“Can’t believe u wouldn’t do it to keep Abagail and myself safe.”

So, as the article link above indicates, it appears this Central couple has now likely been scammed out of $35,000 as part of this latest alleged adoption scam.

================== Statute / Code References by Mills in Video ===========================

LA R. S. 14:66 (extortion statute).   LA R. S. 14:67 (theft by nonviolent means).  LA R. S. 14:118 (bribery and intimidation).

LA R. S. 14:286(C)(7) providing for a maximum of 45 days of postpartum housing (the successful adopting family, with the full knowledge and assistance of the social worker, provided 86 days of such hosing).

LA CHC 1186 (confidentiality of adoption records).

===================== Emails Referenced by Mills in Video=============================

LSP Lieutenant Chad Gremillion (LSP Investigator – Special Victims Unit) email.

Lucy McGough email.

Danny McAllister (AG) email (1).   Danny McAllister (AG) email (2).

Noteworthy Assessment by Mills:

Mills states that the DCFS “finding” notes that the birth mother, “appears to have some documented issues with being truthful.” In addition, Mills advises that DCFS also notes that she was changing her story during her 24-hour stay at the hospital.  Mills later found out that this hospital stay was because the birth mother thought she was in labor.  She was communicating with Cindy Simonson, a California adoption facilitator, during this episode, but Mills contends, “she never contacted us regarding her potential labor and delivery on April 11, 2014.  All of this should have lead LSP to establish at least probable cause to ask questions.”  Mills added, “if those statements alone do not establish intent to deceive us, I guess I am not really sure what intent is.”

Mills expressed extreme frustration with Lucy McGough.  As evidenced by the email link above, he responded to her email stating that she would not talk to LSP.  Mills made it clear that he was not requesting her representation.  Mills indicated that she never responded to his “very simple question of having someone else represent the Children’s Code work product to LSP.”

Mills also provided Sound Off Louisiana with two emails of communication with Danny McAllister at the Attorney General’s office.  Mills stated that, in his opinion, the Attorney General’s office wants him and his wife “to do their investigation for them,” a fact he made clear in the video above.  Also as stated on the video, Mills indicated that he is willing to do the Attorney General’s investigation for him, but he emphasized to Jeff Landry, “I’m not going to be ignored.”

Mills also stated that, regarding his reference to Molly Lancaster in the McAllister email:  “she felt compelled enough from our story that she said LSP could go to New Orleans and arrest both birth parents.”  Mills pointed out the astounding contradiction of Lancaster’s assessment vis-a-vis Gremillion’s “no statutes violated” email above.  Mills emphasized that Lancaster represented “the third member of the Attorney General’s Office pointing me to criminal statutes that Chad Gremillion can’t find.”  He named the three:  Molly Lancaster, Assistant Attorney General; Whitney Higginbotham Green, Assistant Attorney General; and Danny McAllister, Investigator.

Mills expressed frustration with LSP’s Chad Gremillion in that “even though he made the claim that he discussed our situation with an Assistant Attorney General, he would never tell me who he talked to at the Attorney General’s office, yet I have three who directly contradict what he says.”

The above video and documentation provide incredible substantiation to Mills’ claim that law enforcement is either ignoring or being totally indifferent to the sheer number of adopting scams being perpetrated upon prospective Louisiana adoptive couples.

We will conclude our thorough, in-depth investigative series with the fifth installment of this series in coming days.  We appreciate our loyal viewers who have followed this series, and we believe you’ll find the final episode very intriguing.

If you would like to be added to our Sound Off Louisiana email list to be notified of future Sound Off posts, simply scroll to the very bottom of this page (mobile devices) or to the end of the right-hand column (desktops) and supply your email address within the subscribe box.  You’ll then receive an automated email from Word Press, and all you have to do is click on the blue “confirm follow” bar contained within that email, and you’ll begin receiving great posts such as the preceding one above. 

JAH Enterprises (d/b/a Henderson Auctions) CEO and Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards Auction License Board Appointee Jeff Henderson.

It’s been over four months since our post entailing the scathing ruling issued by U. S. Judge Shelly Dick regarding Federal civil fraud litigation entailing Gov. Edwards’ Louisiana Auction Licensing Board (LALB) appointee Jeff Henderson.

Henderson is the son of Henderson Auctions’ founder, convicted felon Marvin Henderson.  Only days after our post, the Baton Rouge Business Report published an extensive article entailing Marvin Henderson’s problematic past.  The article also outlined highpoints of Federal civil fraud litigation entailing Henderson Auctions and BLH Equipment, an LLC controlled by a Mississippi businessman and former Henderson business associate James Blake Everett.  The Business Report even revealed the following details about allegedly secret payments which Marvin Henderson instructed Everett to make to him or persons on his behalf:

“In July, Everett’s attorney filed another exhibit, this one called ‘Advances to Marvin for his Girlfriends‘ (bold emphasis is ours). The handwritten ledger shows dates and amounts for 10 additional alleged payments—in cash and cashier’s checks—to Marvin Henderson or to women on Henderson’s behalf (bold emphasis ours). That exhibit alleges that all told, BLH Equipment paid $141,519.68 to Marvin Henderson between July 2, 2013, and Feb. 7, 2014.”

In our current feature, we outline some interesting developments revealed in Federal Court filings on May 31, 2017 entailing Jeff Henderson’s uncle (and Marvin’s brother), Dale Henderson, (and other Henderson associates, past and present) being expected to be called as witnesses by BLH/Everett and  to testify against Marvin, Jeff, and Janet Henderson Cagley (Marvin’s daughter) in the trial presently scheduled for January 8, 2018:

Sound Off Louisiana founder Robert Burns covers discovery material filed into Federal Court on May 31, 2017 entailing witnesses expected to be called by BLH Equipment and James Blake Everett as well as what those witnesses are expected to testify regarding.

We will soon be continuing this feature with some absolutely fascinating deposition testimony wherein Marvin Henderson was the deponent.  Those will be VERY interesting segments, we guarantee!!

If you would like to be added to our Sound Off Louisiana email list to be notified of future Sound Off posts, simply scroll to the very bottom of this page (mobile devices) or to the end of the right-hand column (desktops) and supply your email address within the subscribe box.  You’ll then receive an automated email from Word Press, and all you have to do is click on the blue “confirm follow” bar contained within that email, and you’ll begin receiving great posts such as the preceding one above. 

Craig Mills & His Family

In our latest Sound Off Louisiana feature, we continue our investigative series entailing alleged adoption scams in Louisiana.  Viewers will recall from segment one that alleged scam victim Craig Mills filed civil litigation over his allegations entailing his attempted adoption of a son who is the biological brother of his adopted daughter, Morgan.  Mills alleges impropriates and/or conflicts on the part of Louisiana licensed social worker and adoption attorney Lisa Pecquet Harell.  The case was assigned to 19th JDC Judge Todd Hernandez.  The most recent hearing entailing the matter transpired on April 10, 2017.  Sound Off Louisiana attended the proceeding.

In essence, Harell’s attorney, Chris Whittington, argued that biological parents have a constitutional right to change their minds entailing who will adopt their baby.  Mills’ attorney, Crystal Bounds, acknowledged that fact but emphasized that her clients “have the right not to be scammed.”  She emphasized that Harell knew full well the biological parents were “double dipping” entailing multiple prospective adoptive parents but permitted the alleged scam to continue to be perpetrated.  Whittington also argued that any action by the Mills family should be prescribed based on his assertion that a home study, which Harell conducted for the Mills family, is only valid for one year unless a request is made to renew the study for another year, which he contended Mills did not do.  Judge Hernandez took the matter under advisement and, on May 24, 2017, he issued a ruling denying both of Harell’s exceptions (exceptions of no right of action and prescription).  Thus, though Harell may appeal to the First Circuit Court of Appeal, the case remains ongoing.  Harell already appealed Hernandez having denied a previous peremptory exception of no cause of action, and the First Circuit declined to even hear the matter.  Bounds argued that the most recent hearing before Judge Hernandez was a mere “copy and paste” of that previous exception hearing.

In this segment, Mills elaborates entailing what he contends is indifference and/or ineffectiveness on the part of the Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) entailing preventing adoption scams in Louisiana.

Mills discusses the indifference and/or ineffectiveness of DCFS at preventing Louisiana adoption scams.
CLICK HERE for an adoption ad in Common Cents which Mills references as being inappropriate, and
CLICK HERE for an ad by the adoption agency Mills is suing with the language he argues is inappropriate highlighted.

One alarming aspect of this whole case centers around Harell’s early-on efforts to seal this entire case from public scrutiny.  Clearly, the public would not be well-served in being denied this opportunity to delve into potential serious problems in the Louisiana adoption market.  Those problems were pretty well documented in this LSU Law Center publication regarding the subject.

If an adverse judgment against Harell ultimately results from Mills’ civil lawsuit against her, it won’t be the first such adverse ruling.  In 2005, Harell was cited by the Louisiana State Board of Social Work Examiners for failing to actually conduct an in-person home study, falsely representing that she had in fact done so, and failing to maintain fee charges and billing documentation for the statutorily-required six-year period.

We look forward to delivering Part IV of this fascinating series, during which Mills voices his concerns entailing Louisiana State Police (LSP) and its investigations (or lack thereof) involving Louisiana adoption scams very soon.

If you would like to be added to our Sound Off Louisiana email list to be notified of future Sound Off posts, simply scroll to the very bottom of this page (mobile devices) or to the end of the right-hand column (desktops) and supply your email address within the subscribe box.  You’ll then receive an automated email from Word Press, and all you have to do is click on the blue “confirm follow” bar contained within that email, and you’ll begin receiving great posts such as the preceding one above.