Woman sentenced for adoption scam

INDIANAPOLIS -- A woman convicted of swindling couples out of nearly $100,000 after promising to help them adopt Russian children was placed on electronically monitored home detention for two years Monday in federal court.\nVictoria Farahan, 42, a Russian native who lives in Carmel, Ind., also was sentenced to five years probation as part of a plea agreement on charges of mail and wire fraud, according to federal prosecutors.\nFarahan pleaded guilty in June as part of a deal with the U.S. attorney's office.\nAuthorities say Farahan told couples she worked with an international agency and could use her Russian contacts to help them adopt children from that country.\nAccording to a grand jury indictment, Farahan gave couples photos of children she said were Russian and available for adoption. Among the photos was one of her own child, taken when the child was an infant.\nDespite the exchange of money, no adoptions were ever completed, authorities said.\nU.S. District Judge Larry McKinney also fined Farahan $2,000 and ordered her to make restitution in the amount of $7,718. The victims already have been repaid $97,500.\nFarahan speaks fluent English. In 1990, she served as interpreter for Olga Korbut when the famed gymnast visited Indianapolis to pick up medicines donated to help survivors of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.\nU.S. adoptions of children from the former Soviet Union are not uncommon. According to the U.S. State Department, more than 4,600 Russian orphans were issued visas to come to the U.S. during the 2005 budget year, second only to the number from China.