2 U.S. Women, Jailed in Mexico, Deny Buying Baby

Two U.S. residents being held here denied Wednesday that they had any part in a plot to purchase a 1-year-old girl and portrayed themselves as innocent victims of a mistaken prosecution.

During a brief jailhouse interview, both women professed no knowledge of any effort to buy the child and appeared to be utterly confused about the proceedings against them. Their accounts, though fleeting and sketchy, differed substantially from the versions outlined by Mexican authorities, who say the pair could face 15 years in prison if convicted in the alleged baby-selling scheme.

“I don’t know how I got involved,” said a sobbing Bette Winks, who maintained she was simply visiting a friend here on Jan. 24 when she was apprehended by Baja California State Judicial Police. “I went to visit her and I got arrested. . . . I don’t know what’s happening.”

The friend is Ivonne Lopez Hernandez, a 31-year-old Mexican citizen who said she had been living in Monterey Park, near Los Angeles. Lopez is also in custody. The two apparently became friends after Winks’ recent move from Illinois to Alhambra, near Los Angeles.

“We didn’t do nothing wrong,” said Lopez, who, like Winks, has blondish hair and is referred to in Mexican court papers occasionally as La Guera-- The Blond. “Somebody made a mistake . . . and everything’s going to be clear pretty soon.”

As they spoke to a reporter, the two stood side-by-side behind a row of bars and a metal meshing just inside the crammed and cacophonous entrance to the city jail downtown. The noise from other nearby prisoners speaking to lawyers and friends was almost deafening.

“It’s worse than a nightmare,” said the 49-year-old Winks, dressed in a red warm-up suit. She appeared pale and gaunt, her eyes ringed in red from frequent crying. “I’m very upset. I want to go back to my family.”

Mexican authorities allege that the two conspired to purchase the child from her Tijuana mother for $3,000. The child’s mother, Maria Enriqueta Millan Tostado, maintains that Lopez gained control of the child through a ruse and later attempted to bribe her not to go the police. Authorities have returned the girl to her mother.

In court papers, investigators quote Lopez as admitting that she purchased the child for Winks on Jan. 17. Lopez asserted in documents that the mother was a willing participant in the scheme--an allegation denied by the mother.

Despite her alleged statements to police, Lopez said Wednesday: “We didn’t have nothing to do with this kid.”

Winks denied accounts contained in court documents indicating that both women had received death threats in the jail. But Lopez asserted that their lives may be in danger.

“They can kill us at any moment, at any minute,” said Lopez, who broke into laughter when asked whom she was referring to.

Both women have retained Mexican lawyers to represent them. Under Mexican law, the two can remain in jail for months while a judge reviews written evidence submitted by the prosecution and defense and ponders a decision.

“Have you heard when I can go home to my family?” a pleading Winks asked a reporter at one point.

Winks’ husband, Harold, was initially arrested in the case but has been released. Winks said she did not know where he was.

Winks’ unusually large family has been the source of considerable controversy back in central Illinois, where Bette and Harold Winks--the natural parents of eight children--have often found themselves in the spotlight.

Honored in 1982 as one of 12 Illinois couples named “adoptive parents of the year,” the Winks family eventually wound up caring for as many as 30 children, authorities say. Many of the children were infants with severe handicaps. The Winks home is in rural Hudson, about 120 miles southwest of Chicago.

Recently, however, questions have arisen about the validity of some of the Winks family’s “adoptions.” In the last year and a half, state authorities have removed from the Winks’ custody 12 children--including two Mexican-born infants linked to a San Ysidro baby-smuggling ring that was busted by U.S. authorities here last year.

Why did she accumulate so many children?

“I just love children,” Winks said Wednesday. “I want to see them have a home.”

In fact, authorities say there have been no charges that the couple ever abused the children, nor has any evidence surfaced that the Winks family ever sold a child.

“I cared for all my children well, “ Winks said.

Asked how many children she has now, Winks answered, “I don’t even know how many.”

She added: “I just want to go home to my husband.”