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Duluth Couple Loses Thousands In Adoption Fraud

DULUTH, Minn. (WCCO) -- Police say a Minnesota couple hoping to adopt their first child, instead ended up scammed out of thousands of dollars.

Todd and Alyssa Holmstrom went through an agency in Florida. The Duluth couple paid nearly $15,000 to support the child's birth mother during her pregnancy, but the mother lied about her circumstances and kept taking the money.

The Holstroms say their loss was much more than financial. They were matched last summer with an expecting birth mother through an adoption agency in Florida.

"We were excited," Todd said. "We had been waiting a few months at that point."

But the expecting mother, Carrie Cutler, had an early miscarriage. She never reported it to the agency or the Holmstroms. The couple continued to make thousands of dollars worth of payments to Cutler and took trips to Florida to visit her.

"We were sitting at a restaurant and she mentioned at one point, 'Did you just see the baby kick?' And of course, we didn't," Todd said.

Cutler told the couple she was having a girl, and that her due date would be in March. The Holmstroms say she sent them ultrasounds in February. They later find out those were fake.

"We painted a baby room, and people had given us gifts, and everything else in preparation for it," Todd said.

Finally as the date arrived, the adoption agency found medical records of Cutler's miscarriage.

"It's hard to rationalize, truly," Alyssa said. "I think I kind of just let myself be OK just not fully grasping how that decision process happened on her end."

Alyssa and Todd are grieving their loss, but still plan adopt, relying on prayer and hope to make their dream of a family come true*we have shot of family sign

"We knew God worked in mysterious ways, and I guess it's taught us he can work in mysterious ways we can never fathom," Todd said.

Altogether, the Holmstroms paid more than $13,000 for Cutler's rent, food and medical care after the miscarriage. Police say Cutler is now pregnant again.

The National Council for Adoption says there are around 18,000 domestic infant adoptions a year. Less than 1 percent of those report a fraud case.

If you'd like to help the Holmstroms, you can donate on their YouCaring page.

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