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Assisted Reproduction

Tonya Collins & The Gambino Crime Family Will Soon Have Something In Common

NBC news, through their Chicago affiliate, ran its investigative report into SurroGenesis and Tonya Collins. Featured in the segment are Beth and Marcio Mardones who have been working tirelessly on behalf of all the victims to garner media attention for this heinous scandal in the hopes it will shame law enforcement into doing their jobs. Also appearing in this report is Ted Penny, the litigatoin attorney retained by the victims. You can watch the video of the segment here.

There are a couple of developments worth noting. First, the class action lawsuit will be filed tomorrow against SurroGenesis, Michael Charles, Tonya Collins and others. Among the likely causes of action will be a claim for RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) violations. While the arsenal available to civil litigators is often circumscribed, there is not a more potent weapon than a RICO claim which is also used by prosecutors in criminal actions. By way of background, RICO is a United States federal law that provides for criminal penalties as well as authorizing a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. Even though its intended use was to prosecute the Mafia and others engaged in organized crime, its application has been extended well beyond its original purpose. Within the criminal context, those found guilty of racketeering can be fined up to $25,000 and/or sentenced to 20 years in prison per racketeering count. In addition, the racketeer must forfeit all ill-gotten gains and interest in any business gained through a pattern of “racketeering activity.” RICO also permits a private individual harmed by the actions of such an enterprise to file a civil suit; if successful, the individual can collect treble damages, attorney fees and other relief.

Secondly, I have received confirmation that the FBI investigation remains stalled. As of two weeks ago, the FBI’s priorities switched from the SGUSA investigation to that of a child abduction. Tragically, the eight year old girl, Sandra Cantu, was just found dead, discovered in a suitcase in a drained pond not far from her home. Understandably, the Cantu abduction case had to be a priority for the FBI. However, it is inconceivable to me that the FBI does not have additonal resources to continue multiple investigations simultaneously. Furthermore, it does not explain why there was little or no activity in the two weeks following the report of the SGUSA fraud to the FBI and the disappearance of Sandra Cantu. Make no mistake, I am not faulting the FBI for concentrating their efforts on locating the abducted child. My criticism is that they delayed for more than two weeks after the SGUSA scandal was reported to them and could not find any additional resources to pursue other investigations.

So even though the FBI investigation has stalled, victims will soon have the satisfaction of knowing that the civil justice system will begin the process of holding Collins and her co-conspirators liable for their actions. It will also be very satisfying to hear the words “Tonya Collins” and “Racketeer” in the same sentence.

Discussion

2 comments for “Tonya Collins & The Gambino Crime Family Will Soon Have Something In Common”

  • Justice

    We dedided to make our story public to make the awareness of the the misconducts that the surrogate agencies have placed on our lives. With our story, Surrogenesis is corrupt in the placement of the trust that we believed they were a company that was having the best interest of the families at heart. As more stories are told, more awareness will flow into the lives of everyone that wants to have their families grow and prevent the corrupt surrogate companies from destructive acts. We had e-mailed several media TV networks and placed the following.

    I’m not sure if you are the right person for me to be contacting, if this is not the type of story you would work on, I would appreciate if you can forward my message to the correct staff member.

    My name is Beth Mardones and my husband Marcio and I have been working with an agency to try to have a baby through surrogacy. The agency that we were working with has taken off with over 2million dollars from innocent families. The agency claimed to have 2 offices in the Chicago area, one in Highland Park and another in Chicago . We were interviewed by the LA times and the article ran on the front page this past Sunday. Over the past 2 weeks the LA times has run 3 stories and the NY times ran one, please see below links.

    http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-surrogate29-2009mar29,0,6242072.story

    http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/21/us/21surrogate.html?ref=us

    http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-surrogate-agency21-2009mar21,0,3918452.story

    We are extremely frustrated because the FBI has not open an official investigation and the women that has committed this crime is living freely at her home in TX. We are turning our efforts to the media hoping that it will bring attention to our very unfortunate situation.

    My husband and I are willing to be interviewed and do whatever we need to help to bring attention to this situation.

    Thank you for your time and consideration.
    Beth Mardones

    Now that we know that it can be done. We urge you to make your story available. After the e-mail was sent we received two networks in the same week that wanted to run our story. NBC and CBS had contacted us. We decided to have NBC tell our story, since they responded to our e-mail the following morning. We also received a call from PBS NOW for an interview that we did over the phone. This is the beginning to the end of the corrupt surrogate agencies that run their companies laughing at the victims. We wil continue to e-mail anyone that has a ear to listen to our story and have the heart and compassion to get involved. The e-mails will be effective as the our stories will be heard. The misconduct that Surrogensis placed in our road to parenthood will have justice looking in their rear view mirror.

  • I admire Beth and Marcio for their willingess to share their painful story with others. Hopefully it will assist intended parents who are looking to build their families through third party reproduction by underlining the need for caution. There are wonderful and reputable agencies run by teams of qualified and licensed profesionals.

    Nazca Fontes, President
    http://www.conceiveabilities.com

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