It amazes me that this woman only got four years. Her actions caused a huge amount of damage but yet because she has a good background. She has never committed a crime before. She only gets four years. Sorry that is unacceptable to me. This is what bugs me about adoption. Women and children are still commodities that are traded. We are not humans that are deserving of respect.
Here is the link and the story.
Attorney barred from practice
By Patricia Breakey
Delhi News Bureau
DELHI _ A Franklin lawyer who pleaded guilty to filing a false petition to adopt a baby girl has been barred from practicing law for four years.
The state Supreme Court, Appellate Division Third Judicial Department ruled Sept. 25 that Sarah Braen-Scott is suspended from the practice of law for a period of four years, effective Oct. 14.
Braen-Scott, 34, of 201 Center St. in Franklin, was arrested March 3 on a misdemeanor charge of second-degree offering a false instrument for filing, Delaware County Social Services Investigator Mark Hamilton said previously.
Delhi Town Justice Joseph Skovira accepted Braen-Scott's guilty plea March 3, and she was sentenced to 60 days in jail and three years' probation June 4.
According to the Appellate Division's written decision, "(Braen-Scott's) actions constitute conduct that strikes at the core principles of the legal system. However, in mitigation, we note the circumstances under which the matter arose.
"Also, in determining an appropriate measure of discipline, we have taken into consideration the letters of support submitted by individuals familiar with respondent attesting to her good character and standing in the community, her family difficulties, as well as her lack of any prior disciplinary history," the decision said.
According to previous statements by the special prosecutor, Michael L. Breen, assigned to the case:
ä Hamilton gathered sworn statements while he was conducting a routine investigation required by law when there is a private adoption.
ä Braen-Scott heard there was a pregnant woman in the Delaware County jail who wanted to put her child up for adoption.
ä Braen-Scott then made arrangements to have an acquaintance sign papers acknowledging that he was the father of the child.
On March 13, 2007, the baby girl was born at Mary Imogene Bassett Hospital in Cooperstown.
Braen-Scott allegedly filed the adoption petition on or about July 12, which launched the social services investigation, Breen said.
Lawyer James Hartmann was appointed legal guardian for the child, based on the paternity question, which also included a declaration of paternity by the real father, a teenager who had come forward, Breen said.
Breen said the tests indicated a greater than 99 percent chance that the teenage boy was the father.
Braen-Scott said previously that she and her husband had already registered with an adoption agency when she became aware that Jessie B. Tompkins, 23, was seeking a home for her expected child.
Braen-Scott said she met with Tompkins in December 2006 but did not specifically ask why she was in jail.
Tompkins was in jail on charges that she had repeatedly raped a 13-year-old boy. She pleaded guilty on Feb. 13, 2007, to second-degree rape and criminal contempt, and was sentenced to six months in jail and 10 years' probation.
Braen-Scott could not be reached at her home or cell phones for comment Thursday.
Her attorney, Donald J. Schwartz of Oneonta, did not return a phone call for comment Thursday.
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