Surrogacy agency hit by class action

Dozens of aspiring parents and the women they hired to be surrogate mothers filed a class action lawsuit this week against a Modesto-based surrogacy agency that abruptly shut its doors and stopped returning phone calls, leaving hundreds of thousands of client dollars unaccounted for, according to the allegations.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in Alameda County Superior Court, alleges breach of contract and fraud and names Surrogenesis USA and its escrow company, Michael Charles Independent Financial Holding Group.

The plaintiffs, who have also taken their complaints to the FBI, claim that they gave Surrogenesis as much as $100,000 each in exchange for assistance finding surrogate mothers.

In some cases, surrogates midway through their pregnancies said they had stopped receiving payments. In one instance, a couple sent the agency $90,000 one week before it closed its doors, and were provided no services, Sherman Oaks attorney Ted Penny said.

“The money is gone,” said Penny, who is representing more than 60 couples. “We know the bank at which the money was being kept, and they say that the account is now empty.”

Penny said he and the couples have repeatedly tried to reach Surrogenesis executives, including Tonya Collins, owner and chief executive. Collins’ contact numbers have been disconnected. Her criminal defense attorney has said he will not comment on the matter because it is under investigation.

Among those filing suit, Penny said, “the most common couple is the couple that had saved for years to do this and feels absolutely betrayed -- is really angry -- and feels stymied in this effort of child bearing. . . . It’s like losing the opportunity to have a child all over again.”

Beth Mardones and her husband, Chicago-area residents, say they are still owed $22,000, money left over from their three failed in vitro fertilization attempts. The couple say they are uncertain whether to try in vitro fertilization with their two remaining embryos or move on to adoption. Either way, they have little money left.

“A lot of us feel from here -- who do you turn to to trust?” Mardones said. “You inevitably are going to need to work with an agency of some sort again. But we’re extremely cautious and skeptical.”

Several couples have contacted the FBI in Modesto and their local authorities.

FBI spokesman Steve Dupre acknowledged Tuesday that there has been “little to no investigation done yet.” Agents have been working recently on the disappearance and killing of 8-year-old Sandra Cantu in Tracy, a case that takes precedence, Dupre said. Agents should start reviewing some of the complaints soon, he said.

“We’re going to get there, but it’s not going to happen overnight,” Dupre said.

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kimi.yoshino@latimes.com