By the time a jury begins hearing the fraud trial of Rick and Susan Hayhow, it will have been nearly five years since their company filed for bankruptcy and left hundreds of parents in limbo.
In July 2009, Cambridge-based non-profit adoption agency Imagine Adoption filed for bankruptcy.
Any adoptions that had not been completed were placed on hold, even in cases where prospective parents had spent thousands on the process.
After receiving a number of complaints from the public, police launched an investigation into the company.
In April 2011, the Hayhows, both of whom had close ties to the company – Rick as general manager, Susan as founder and executive director – were arrested and charged with breach of trust and multiple counts of fraud.
Police alleged that the Hayhows used more than $420,000 in Imagine Adoption funds to pay for vacations, clothing and renovations to their Cambridge home.
The breach of trust charge was later dropped, and the case was in court for several days this week, during which a jury trial was scheduled to begin on June 16, 2014.
“I’m disappointed that it’s taken this long to get to trial, but I’m really glad that we’re going forward with the trial,” Angela Sandau, one of the parents affected by the bankruptcy, tells CTV News.
Sandau and her husband, Brian Sandau, were able to adopt a child from Africa in the end, but they estimate that about 100 families that had been working with Imagine Adoption remain childless.
Many of the 400 or so families that had been working with Imagine Adoption in 2009 stay in touch via an online discussion forum.
Angela Sandau says the group follows developments in the case closely.
“We’ve all been on the edges of our seats,” she says.
“It’s a huge relief to all of us to find out that there’s finally going to be a trial.”
A pretrial motion was also discussed this week, although the details of the motion are subject to a publication ban.
