‘Adoptive Parents of Year’ Are Jailed in Tijuana Baby Sale Case

TIJUANA — An Illinois couple who have adopted at least 11 children and once were honored by their home state as “adoptive parents of the year” have been jailed here on suspicion of attempting to purchase a year-old Mexican infant, authorities said.

Charles H. Winks, 46, and his wife, Bette Winks, 49, whose last known address was the Central Illinois town of Hudson, were being held in the Tijuana city jail, according to agent Miguel Martinez Magana of the Baja California State Judicial Police.

In 1985, U.S. court papers show, the couple was linked to a highly publicized baby smuggling case. The couple received two Mexican-born babies, a boy and girl, from two women who were later convicted of conspiracy to illegally bring babies into the United States. No charges were made against the couple in that case, in which Mexican babies were allegedly offered to prospective parents for fees as high as $7,000. Illinois state officials eventually took the two babies away from the couple, according to U.S. authorities.

Also arrested in connection with the current case, Mexican authorities said, was Ivone Lopez, a Mexican citizen who told officials she lives in Monterey Park, near Los Angeles. Mexican officials said that Lopez, who also maintains a Tijuana residence, allegedly acted as an intermediary in securing the child from the natural mother and reportedly was paid $3,000 by Winks and his wife.

It was unclear Thursday whether any formal charges have been filed against Winks, his wife or Lopez.

Sharon Wilkinson, chief of the American citizens section at the U.S. consul in Tijuana, confirmed that the two Americans were in custody but declined to provide any other details.

The three were arrested as part of an alleged scheme to purchase year-old Maria Isabel Gonzalez Millan, according to Mexican officials and press accounts. The child has since been returned to her mother, Enriqueta Millan, 31, of Tijuana, authorities said.

U.S. authorities have described the U.S.-Mexico border region as a center for the contraband “sale” of Mexican babies to U.S. couples who are eager to adopt but who are frustrated by the shortage of adoptable babies in the United States. Some impoverished Mexican mothers have either sold their children for cash or had them kidnaped, according to U.S. authorities.

“The borders are an easy way to get them (babies) in,” said John Hughes, a special agent with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in San Diego who has worked on baby-smuggling cases.

Charles and Bette Winks are well-known and sometimes controversial in Central Illinois. The couple reportedly has eight natural children and, at various times, has had as many as 11 adopted children, many of them from Mexico. Charles Winks runs a service station in Bloomington, Ill. Bette Winks is a former schoolteacher.

In recent years, Illinois authorities have taken nine adopted children away from the Winkses because of questions about the children’s legal status in the United States and the validity of adoptions, according to news reports and Charles Reynard, an attorney in Bloomington who once represented the couple in adoptions cases. Reynard said the couple was recently involved in an unsuccessful legal battle to regain custody of at least six children, all of whom are believed to have been born in Mexico and brought across the border for adoption.

In August, 1982, according to news reports, Illinois Gov. James R. Thompson named the couple the state’s “adoptive parents of the year.” At the time, the couple had two adopted handicapped children, both with Down’s Syndrome, in addition to their eight natural children.

Details of the current case involving the couple are sketchy, with contradictory accounts of what happened provided by U.S. and Mexican officials.

Mexican officials provided the following account:

The intermediary, Lopez, was a friend of the child’s mother and apparently used a ruse to gain control of the child on Jan. 17. Once the child was reported missing, police kept a lookout on Lopez’s Tijuana home.

On Saturday, Charles and Bette Winks arrived at Lopez’s Tijuana home with the missing child in tow. Bette Winks and Lopez were arrested, and the child was seized and eventually returned to her mother.

There is some doubt about whether Charles Winks was immediately arrested but there is no question that he was in custody Thursday.

Mexican officials say they believe that the child may have been taken into the United States between Jan. 17 and Jan. 24, but U.S. authorities say they have no evidence the child was brought into the country.

Charles and Bette Winks were linked to the 1985 baby smuggling case as the result of a broad investigation in which U.S. authorities uncovered evidence that they received two Mexican-born babies who were illegally brought into the United States, U.S. District Court documents show. Two San Ysidro women who acted as intermediaries in the sales were convicted of criminal charges in the case.

They were Juanita Vargas-Ruiz and her daughter, Melinda Leyva-Vargas, who pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in San Diego in July to illegally bringing children into the United States and concealing facts from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. Both received one-year prison sentences and were placed on probation for five years.

U.S. authorities charged that the two women arranged for the illegal transport of seven Mexican children into the United States, including the two provided to Charles and Bette Winks.

Miguel Cervantes contributed to this story.