2 Accused of Offering Money for Babies : Crime: An attorney and an Orange County social worker are charged in a felony conspiracy to pay welfare mothers up to $20,000 for newborns.

Orange County prosecutors Tuesday filed charges against a Long Beach attorney and an Orange County social worker, accusing them of conspiracy in a baby-selling scheme where between $5,000 and $20,000 allegedly was offered to pregnant welfare recipients for their newborns.

The attorney, Ira M. Aspiz, 34, and the social worker, Youda Huor, 33, have agreed to report to Central Municipal Court’s Division 311 on April 13 for arraignment on the charges.

“These charges are grossly exaggerated,” said Paul S. Meyer, Aspiz’s attorney. “What the D.A. has, at best, is some very general, preliminary conversations (on tape) referring to adoptions.”

Both Aspiz and Huor are charged with two felony counts of conspiracy to offer payments to a parent for adoption and one misdemeanor count of attempted offering of such payments. If convicted, each could receive a maximum state prison sentence of three years and eight months.

The eight-month investigation into the alleged operation began when a 17-year-old welfare recipient, Lisa Dury, complained to an official of the Social Services Agency that Huor had put her in touch with Aspiz after claiming that she could get as much as $10,000 for her baby--”and maybe more if the baby had blond hair and blue eyes.”

District attorney officials enlisted Dury to call Aspiz and tape the telephone conversations.

Court papers show that Aspiz told Dury that she should think about how much she wants for the baby but that she should keep in mind that the amount should be “reasonable.”

Later, authorities had a district attorney investigator call Aspiz and claim that she was pregnant. Court records show that officials claim Aspiz mentioned in his conversation with her that she could make between $5,000 and $20,000 for a baby girl with blond hair and blue eyes.

“He made it clear that the money would not be just for the mother’s medical bills, but for the mother to make a substantial profit,” one official involved in the case said.

Authorities then enlisted another woman, five months pregnant, to contact Huor and see about adoptions. Records show that for this woman, Huor wrote out a referral to Aspiz on a Medi-Cal brochure.

Huor’s job for the county is to screen pregnant women for the Aid to Families with Dependent Children program. County regulations forbid such employees from referring welfare recipients who are pregnant to attorneys who handle adoptions.

Huor’s attorney, James A. Stotler, could not be reached for comment.

Huor has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the county Social Service Agency’s own inquiry into the complaints. One official at the agency said its information so far is that only one employee is involved.