Mother Indicted on Fraud Charges

A federal grand jury indicted a Lancaster woman on multiple fraud charges Thursday for allegedly offering her unborn child and 1-year-old son to several couples in exchange for money.

Sateva Seals, 21, was indicted on nine counts of wire fraud and five counts of mail fraud. From August to November 1997, Seals promised three couples they could adopt her son and told two couples that they could adopt her unborn child, according to the federal grand jury indictment. She then allegedly collected thousands of dollars from the couples for her living and medical expenses.

But Seals and her child were wards of the state of California and she was not legally entitled to offer her child for adoption, according to the indictment.

“She was unable to offer her child and her unborn child for adoption, but she sought money from the victim parents under the pretenses that she could, and that’s a crime,” said Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles.

Seals will be arraigned next month in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.