Internet twins' mom pleads guilty to unrelated fraud charges

Jet, Dec 3, 2001

The mother of twin girls caught in a transatlantic adoption dispute pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges not related to the adoption dispute. She admitted she lied to get rent subsidies, food stamps and unemployment benefits.

Tranda Wecker, 29, of O'Fallon, MO, previously pleaded innocent to the charges, but now she faces up to a year in jail. Sentencing is set for Jan. 18.

There is no apparent connection between the fraud case and the adoption dispute.

Wecker and her estranged husband, Aaron Wecker, twice agreed to put their daughters, Kimberley and Belinda, up for adoption through an Internet service.

A biracial San Bernardino, CA, couple, Richard and Vickie Allen, paid $6,000 before the adoption was halted. Then, a Welsh couple, Judith and Alan Kilshaw, paid $12,000 to adopt the twins. The adoption was voided by a court and the Kilshaws gave up their custody fight earlier this year.

When a struggle developed, Tranda Wecker, who also has three other children, told CBS' "The Early Show" that she wanted the girls back (JET, Feb. 5).

The Weckers, who are getting a divorce, are both seeking custody of the girls. Now 16 months old, they are in state care with a foster family in Missouri while a judge decides custody.

In the unrelated federal fraud charge, Tranda Wecker was indicted in August on nine felony counts of filing false statements to obtain government benefits and one count of mail fraud.

According to the indictment, Wecker gave false statements to the Northeast Community Action Corporation and the St. Louis Housing Authority between September 1997 and August 2000. Both agencies administer low-income rental subsidies for the federal government.

The indictment also said Wecker applied for unemployment benefits in September 1999 while she was working for four employers. Prosecutors claimed she drew unemployment checks at $139 a week even though she had a job.

She also is charged with making false statements for food stamps and other aid between January 2000 and January 2001.