CANOGA PARK : Trial Ordered in Adoption Scam

A 28-year-old Canoga Park woman was ordered Monday to stand trial on charges that she duped two couples who had responded to an ad she placed in a local shopping guide offering her unborn child for adoption.

Jana Marie Brown, who is eight months pregnant, will be arraigned on two counts of grand theft in Van Nuys Superior Court on July 27. She is being held on $40,000 bail.

Brown, who police said is an admitted drug addict, was arrested June 28 at a Canoga Park motel after two couples complained to police that Brown had deceived them by promising each couple they could adopt her baby if they paid her living expenses.

At the preliminary hearing, which took less than two hours, Sharen Chehab of Northridge and Daniel Dreifus of Simi Valley testified that each had paid money to Brown in exchange for being allowed to adopt her unborn baby.

Both couples had responded to ad that Brown had placed in the Recycler, a weekly advertising publication. Chehab said she had paid Brown more than $2,500. Dreifus said he had paid her more than $1,000. Public Defender Dana Harley argued unsuccessfully that the situation involved a contract between the parties, making it a civil matter rather than criminal.