The actions of Gia (52 years old, also known as Wong Danny Gia, a Vietnamese-American) and seven others will be tried by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court for the crime of Trafficking in Persons Under 16 Years Old on 18/6.
Tran Thi Cam Tu (35 years old) faces an additional charge of Forging Documents of an Agency or Organization.
According to the indictment, Gia joined online "adoption" social media groups to find women unable to care for their children who wished to find adoptive parents. He then assigned Doan Le Quoc Huy (an acquaintance through social connections) to contact and negotiate with these mothers, pay for the children, and hire Huy to care for them at a salary of 10 million Vietnamese dong per month.
Investigations determined that from 2023 until his arrest, Gia took in three children. He directly adopted one child and, through Huy, took in two others.
Specifically, in 2023, Gia agreed to pay 40 million Vietnamese dong to adopt a boy born in 2018 from a mother facing difficult circumstances. However, he only paid the woman 13 million Vietnamese dong after receiving the child.
Also through the same group, Tran Thi Cam Tu and Le Thi Dieu Lien introduced Gia to a newborn, for which he paid 45 million Vietnamese dong. In 4/2024, through Tu and Huy, Gia spent an additional 35 million Vietnamese dong, including payment to the mother and brokerage fees, to take in another boy, nearly two years old. The children were brought to an apartment in District 10 (now Dien Hong ward) for care while paperwork for their transfer to the US was processed.
On 22/5/2024, the Ho Chi Minh City Police Investigation Agency received multiple reports regarding Gia's apartment housing several children with unclear identities.
Upon inspecting the apartment, police found the children and two caregivers. During questioning, Gia and Huy confessed to their actions.
Based on these statements, the police expanded their investigation, summoning Tu and several other individuals to clarify their roles in the child adoption brokerage ring.
Authorities determined that in addition to brokering children for Gia, Tu's group also facilitated two infertile families in adopting two children for sums ranging from 35 to 45 million Vietnamese dong, from which they profited.
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Tran Thi Cam Tu, an accused in the ring, during police summons. *Photo: Ho Chi Minh City Police* |
Falsifying documents for US transfer
According to the Procuracy, Gia took in the children without following proper procedures for international adoption.
Authorities determined that Gia received the children without completing legal international adoption procedures.
To legalize the children's care and prepare future immigration documents, Gia commissioned several fake birth certificates for the child born in 2018, listing himself as the father.
Gia also asked Tu to falsify DNA test results between himself and a two-year-old child for 5 million Vietnamese dong. Gia is accused of paying an additional one million Vietnamese dong for Tu to create a fake birth certificate for this child, but the case was discovered before he could receive it.
According to prosecutors, the purpose of these falsified documents was to prepare visa applications and facilitate the children's relocation to the US when necessary. When questioned, Gia presented the original birth certificate of the child's biological mother.
The fake documents Gia commissioned were not used to prove the identity or origin of the children under his care, so the investigation agency did not pursue criminal charges for this specific act of forgery.
Regarding this case, individuals who adopted two children from Tu's group later completed all required adoption procedures; therefore, there are no grounds for criminal prosecution against them.
Other individuals involved in document forgery, whose identities the investigation agency has not yet confirmed, have been separated from this case for further clarification and later processing.
Hai Duyen
