A Texas attorney and founder of an adoption agency has been arrested on charges of attempting to buy the unborn children of jail inmates in Tarrant County.
Jody Hall, 68, was booked into the Hays County Jail on July 23 on two warrants issued out of Tarrant County, according to jail records. She was released a short time later after posting a $50,000 bond.
The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Thursday that it began investigating Hall and her business, Adoptions International Inc., on May 28 in connection with unethical adoption practices.
“During this investigation, information was discovered that Jody Hall was paying money to multiple, pregnant Tarrant County inmates for the purpose of placing their unborn children up for adoption with Hall’s agency,” the statement said.
Warrants say Hall paid women hundreds of dollars
According to arrest warrant affidavits obtained by the Star-Telegram , a Sheriff’s Office detective reviewed communications on inmates’ jail-issued tablets and found messages Hall sent to incarcerated women.
The messages showed that Hall discussed monetary agreements and made deposits to inmates’ commissary accounts “for the purposes of acquiring a child for the purposes of adoption,” the detective wrote in the affidavit.
Hall told the inmates that she would send them packets of information about the adoption process and would continue to provide support to the women, presuming they did not “scam her,” the affidavit states.
The messages included text conversations between Hall and a 29-year-old pregnant woman who had signed an adoption agreement with her agency, according to the court documents.
“I don’t need birth moms that lie to me just to get financial support,” Hall told the woman, according to the affidavit. “And I can’t give you anymore if (the baby’s father is) not willing to sign the paperwork.”
The woman received money from Hall totaling $846, the affidavit states. Hall stopped paying the woman in May when she decided to keep her baby, the detective wrote.
When the woman decided not to put the child up for adoption, according to the affidavit, Hall wrote, “You’re in jail and a drug addict. YOU! Did NOT keep him. You are a scammer and I will be telling the prosecutor in your case all about how this (adoptive) family supported you since November and you scammed them WITH THE HELP OF YOUR BOYFRIEND. He’s got pictures all over FB of him holding the baby. You are such a liar!!!”
Hall faces two charges of sale or purchase of a child, according to Hays County Jail records. Buying or selling children is a third-degree felony under Texas law.
Hall could not be reached by phone for comment Thursday.
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Hall began communicating with another woman after the first adoption fell through, according to a second affidavit.
The attorney learned about that 24-year-old woman from another inmate and, according to the warrant, Hall wrote to the woman, saying, “I’ve helped a lot of girls like yourself. We have families who cannot have children that would love to adopt your child. It will be an open adoption where you will get pictures and learn how the child is doing as they grow up. If you have family members that can take the child, that is great. Or if you will be out of jail by the time the child is born, that is great too. But if you still won’t be in a position to raise a child, or have a friend or family that can take the child, we can help you even when you’re not in jail. You can pick a family and start communicating with them now. We will put $100 weekly on your books and you can spend part of it on your tablet or whatever you wish to buy. What about the birth father of the baby? Is he around?”
Hall paid the 24-year-old woman $250 between May and July, according to the affidavit, and said she would give her $100 a week for 25 weeks “wherever you go” if the inmate signed documents to relinquish the child.
“I have a family ready to go ... You will love them,” Hall wrote in one message, according to the affidavit. “AND, you will have 2500 dollars when you get out, or if you want me to put some on your books each week, I can do that. It’s up to you.”
It’s unclear from the documents whether the woman gave birth to a child.
According to the arrest warrants, investigators believe that the money Hall sent to inmates was not for necessary pregnancy-related expenses and is not allowed by Texas state law.
Tarrant County Jail inmates can receive money through two types of accounts, according to the warrants. One type pays for time on the tablet devices, which inmates can use to communicate, access the internet or watch movies. The other account is for commissary items such as food and personal hygiene products.
The detective said he believes payments to those accounts don’t meet the exceptions allowed under the law because the jail already pays for “all necessary pregnancy-related and living expenses of their inmates,” according to the affidavits.
Sheriff’s Office detectives and Texas Rangers served the arrest warrants on Hall at her home in Kyle, about 20 miles south of Austin in Central Texas.
She is the founder and executive director of Adoptions International Inc., according to her social media and State Bar of Texas profiles. She’s also an attorney who is licensed to practice family and immigration law in Texas.
The Intercountry Adoption Accreditation and Maintenance Entity, a U.S. State Department-designated accrediting body, canceled the accreditation of Adoptions International in August 2019 for “failing to maintain substantial compliance with accreditation standards,” according to the department’s website. The action blocked the nonprofit agency from providing services for international adoptions.
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