Scheme to Buy Babies Is Alleged : Investigation: Authorities are checking allegations that a county social worker enticed pregnant welfare recipients to sell their newborns.

Law enforcement authorities are investigating allegations that an Orange County social worker and a Long Beach attorney ran a baby-buying scheme that enticed pregnant welfare recipients with offers of up to $20,000 for their newborns.

Court records show that lawyer Ira M. Aspiz and Youda Huor of the County Social Services Agency allegedly tempted expectant mothers into giving their infants up for adoption with promises of money, vacations and premium pay for babies with blond hair and blue eyes.

So far, no criminal charges have been filed after eight months of investigation by the Orange County district attorney’s office. However, the county has placed Huor, 33, of Long Beach on paid administrative leave until the outcome of the case.

Offering to purchase a baby is a misdemeanor that carries a maximum penalty of one year in County Jail. A conspiracy to do the same is a felony punishable by up to three years in state prison.

The County Social Services Agency, which is conducting its own inquiry into the allegations, also forbids its 300 welfare eligibility workers from referring pregnant women to attorneys handling adoptions.

Robert Griffith, chief deputy director of the Social Services Agency, said Thursday that this is the first time a county caseworker has been suspected of offering money to pregnant welfare applicants. Griffith added that to his knowledge, only one employee is now under investigation.

Aspiz, 34, and Huor, who screens pregnant women for the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program, could not be reached for comment.

But Aspiz’s lawyer, Paul S. Meyer, said his preliminary review of the facts and the statutes revealed no wrongdoing.

“There were no adoption files ever opened,” Meyer said, “and a full airing of all the facts in this case should dissipate any allegations.”

Aspects of the investigation are set forth in search warrant affidavits filed in Orange County Superior Court on March 6, four days after investigators seized records from Aspiz’s law office in the International City Bank building on Atlantic Avenue in Long Beach.

Confiscated in the search were adoption files, phone bills, receipts, a list of doctors, note pads, adoption questionnaires and paper work suggesting a link between welfare applicants, Huor and Aspiz.

The district attorney’s office began the inquiry in July after Susan Delarue, deputy director of financial assistance for the Social Services Agency, received complaints from a welfare applicant that Huor offered her large sums of money to give up her child.

According to search warrant affidavits, Huor gave Lisa Dury, then 17, a handwritten referral to Aspiz during a review of Dury’s welfare application July 13. Court documents show Huor allegedly told Dury she “could receive as much as $10,000 for her baby, and maybe more if the baby had blond hair and blue eyes.”

District attorney investigator Lon D. Erickson then recruited Dury to make tape-recorded telephone calls to Aspiz on July 20 and Oct. 25. During those conversations, Aspiz allegedly told Dury she could get money for her baby if she gave it up for adoption.

“Aspiz told her the money was for her and not for the reimbursement of medical bills. . . . Aspiz was cautious about the money issue, and told Dury to decide how much she wanted for the baby, keeping in mind what would be reasonable,” the affidavit states. On Dec. 1 and Dec. 4, undercover investigator Candace Powell in phone calls with Aspiz pretended she was pregnant and inquired about adoption. Court records indicate Aspiz mentioned payments of $5,000 to $20,000 for a baby girl with blond hair and blue eyes.

Affidavits show that Powell further discussed adoption arrangements with Aspiz during an appointment at his office Dec. 5. He allegedly told Powell she should request “a vacation of her choice,” plus the money she was to receive.

Powell subsequently enlisted Patty Galindo, who was five months’ pregnant, to contact Huor and see if she would make another referral to Aspiz. During the meeting, which was taped and monitored, Huor told Galindo she could get $2,000 and wrote out a referral to Aspiz on a Medi-Cal brochure. According to court records, Galindo later called Aspiz on Jan. 17 and discussed an adoption and payments.