U.S. Couple in Tijuana Jail in Alleged Bid to Buy Baby

TIJUANA — A U.S. couple who have adopted at least 11 children and once were honored by Illinois as that state’s adoptive parents of the year have been jailed here on suspicion of attempting to purchase a 1-year-old Mexican infant, authorities said.

Charles H. Winks, 46, and his wife, Bette, 49, whose last known address was in the rural central Illinois town of Hudson, are being held at the city jail here, said Agent Miguel Martinez Magana of the Baja California State Judicial Police.

In 1985, U.S. court papers show, the couple received a Mexican-born baby boy and baby girl from a woman who was later convicted of conspiracy to bring illegal alien babies into the United States.

No wrongdoing was charged against the Winks in that highly publicized “baby-smuggling” case, in which Mexican babies were allegedly offered to prospective parents for fees of up to $7,000. Illinois state officials eventually took the children away from the Winks, according to U.S. authorities.

Natural Mother

Also arrested in connection with the present case, Mexican authorities said, was Ivone Lopez, a Mexican citizen who told officials that she lives in Monterey Park near Los Angeles. Mexican officials said that Lopez, who also maintains a Tijuana home, acted as an intermediary in securing the child from the natural mother and was paid $3,000 by the Winks.

It was unclear Thursday whether any formal charges had yet been filed against any of the three.

U.S. Consulate spokeswoman Sharon Wilkinson confirmed only that the two Americans were in custody.

The three were arrested as part of an alleged scheme to purchase a 1-year-old Tijuana child, Maria Isabel Gonzalez Millan, according to authorities. The child has since been returned to her mother, Enriqueta Millan, 31, of Tijuana, authorities said.

U.S. authorities have described the U.S.-Mexico border region as a center for the contraband “sale” of Mexican babies to U.S. parents who are eager to adopt but who are frustrated by the shortage of adoptable babies in the United States. Some impoverished Mexican mothers have either sold their children for cash or had them kidnaped, according to U.S. authorities.

“The borders are an easy way to get them (babies) in,” said John Hughes, a special agent with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in San Diego.

The Winks are a well-known and sometimes controversial family in Illinois, where they reportedly have eight natural children and, at various times, as many as 11 adopted children, many of them from Mexico. Charles Winks runs a service station in Bloomington and his wife is a former schoolteacher.

In recent years, Illinois authorities have taken nine adopted children away from the couple because of questions about the children’s legal status in the United States and the validity of the adoptions, according to Charles Reynard, a family attorney in Bloomington.

In August, 1982, Illinois Gov. James R. Thompson named the couple the state’s “adoptive parents of the year.” At the time, the Winks had eight children of their own and had adopted two handicapped children, both of whom had Down’s syndrome.

Mexican officials provided the following account of the arrests:

Lopez, the intermediary, was a friend of the child’s mother. Lopez apparently used a ruse to take the child on Jan. 17. After the child was reported missing, police staked out Lopez’s Tijuana home.

Child in Tow

One week later, on Jan. 24, the Winks arrived at Lopez’s home with the missing child in tow. Bette Winks and Lopez were arrested, and the child was returned to her mother.

There is some dispute about whether Charles Winks was arrested immediately, but he was in custody as of Thursday.

This is the second time the Winks’ name has emerged in an alleged baby-smuggling case.

As part of a broad investigation, U.S. authorities uncovered evidence that the Winks family received two Mexican-born babies who were brought into the United States illegally during the summer of 1985, according to federal court documents. Two San Ysidro women who acted as intermediaries in the sales were ultimately convicted in the case.

The two women, Juanita Vargas-Ruiz and her daughter, Melinda Leyva-Vargas, pleaded guilty last July in U.S. District Court in San Diego to bringing illegal alien children into the country and concealing facts from the INS. Both were sentenced to one-year federal prison terms and placed on five years’ probation.

Times staff writer Miguel Cervantes contributed to this article.