Charges: Ex-owner of Utah adoption agency withheld payroll taxes

Charges: Ex-owner of Utah adoption agency withheld payroll taxes

(Utah County Jail)


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AMERICAN FORK — The former owner of a now-decertified adoption agency was charged Monday with two tax offenses he allegedly committed in his role as an employer there.

James Charles Webb, 59, former owner of the Adoption Center of Choice in American Fork, is charged in 4th District Court with two counts of second-degree felony tax violation.

According to court documents, the Utah State Tax Commission investigation concluded Webb "wilfully" failed to pass on employees' payroll taxes in 2011 and 2012 by keeping what was taken out of their paychecks instead of paying the government.

Few details are listed in Webb's new charges, but court documents from a previous case say the amount of improperly withheld taxes likely totals more than $200,000.

Court records show Webb, of Cedar City, was also charged Feb. 3 with three counts of unlawful dealing with property by a fiduciary, four counts of failure to render a proper tax return, and a single count of theft by deception — all felonies — for allegedly misleading adoptive parents in at least four instances in 2013.

The case, which is ongoing, is Webb's only previous significant criminal history in Utah, according to court records.

In the older case, Webb is accused of securing more than $100,000 in payments from adoptive clients even though his agency's license was on probationary status and he was not allowed to accept new clients.

One set of would-be adoptive parents traveled from Ohio to Utah at the encouragement of the agency, court documents say, beginning at least four days after their associated birth mother delivered the baby.

The couple was informed two days after arriving that the woman had changed her mind and planned to raise the baby, according to court documents. The agency allegedly didn't reimburse the couple when its license was revoked in January 2014. Other clients referenced in Webb's charges reported similar experiences.

Related

The Adoption Center of Choice also played a part in two controversial civil adoption cases that began in 2011. One involves a Pennsylvania man who sued for custody of his biological daughter, whose adoption was facilitated by the Adoption Center of Choice. The case was sent back to 4th District Court by the Utah Supreme Court in 2014 and is ongoing.

The other case ended in early 2013 when an Army drill sergeant from South Carolina gained custody of his nearly 2-year-old biological daughter from a Utah County couple who had used the Adoption Center of Choice to gain custody of her when she was an infant.

No initial court hearing has been scheduled for Webb in the new case.

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Ben Lockhart

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