Twisted plot: Lasonya Poindexter, 30, a day care owner from Missouri, has been charged with attempted kidnapping after prosecutors say she had tried to arrange the adoption of her clients’ baby without their knowledge
A Missouri day care operator has been charged with attempted kidnapping after prosecutors say she took a baby girl to Arkansas without her parents’ knowledge and tried to get her adopted there by another unsuspecting couple.
Lasonya Poindexter, 30, of Joplin, was arrested on Wednesday and charged in federal court the next day. She remains in custody pending her detention hearing next Tuesday.
According to an affidavit, Poinderxter’s adoption scheme unraveled in July when the would-be adoptive parents, Laura Parton, 36, and her husband, 46-year-old Garry Parton, of Lincoln, Arkansas, became suspicious and reached out to the baby’s birth parents, Ashley Nicole Still and Christian Alexander Still, of Joplin, on Facebook.
The Stills, who are married and have two young children together, confirmed that they hadn’t put their five-month-old daughter up for adoption and didn’t know that Poindexter had taken the infant across state lines, about 80 miles from home, at least four times to meet the Partons.
Victims of deception: Poindexter had been hired to care for Ashley and Christian Still’s son and five-month-old daughter (pictured left with mom). Meanwhile, Laura and Garry Parton (right), from Arkasnas, were looking to adopt a baby after a miscarriage
According to the affidavit, the Partons wanted to adopt after suffering a miscarriage. Social media posts reveal the couple have a teenage son.
The affidavit says Poindexter asked for money for the girl’s care during one visit to the Partons’.
The affidavit says Poindexter first contacted the Arkansas couple through a friend in June and began making arrangements for them to adopt the infant girl, identified in court documents as ‘Jane Doe 1,’ who along with her toddler brother was being left in her care a few days a week.
Poindexter’s trips to Arkansas for the couple to bond with the baby lasted two to three hours each.
Poindexter told the Partons she had been given the child to care for and that the baby had been conceived through a rape, something Ashley Still, 24, said was a lie.
Poindexter also told them that the mother wanted a ‘closed’ adoption so she wouldn’t know who was adopting the baby, according to the affidavit.
Poindexter (left) allegedly lied to Partons that the baby girl was the product of rape, and that she deserve ‘so much more than she is getting.’ On the right, the Stills are pictured with their two happy and healthy children in Joplin, Missouri
Heartbreaking: The Partons, who have a son, began buying things for the Stills’ baby and prepping a nursery
The affidavit doesn’t say how Poindexter planned to explain the disappearance of the baby girl to her parents.
The Arkansas couple began buying things for the baby and prepping a nursery. Poindexter told Laura Parton via Facebook Messenger that she was ‘glad’ the girl ‘finally has parents who adore here,’ adding that the baby ‘deserves so much more than she is getting.’
In photo after photo shared on Ashley Still’s Facebook page, her and Christian’s two children appear exceedingly well-cared-for, well-fed and happy.
The young mother addressed her former day care provider’s arrest in a Facebook post on Thursday, which read: ‘For the ones that don’t know but this happened to me and Alex and the kids. We are glad to finally have some justice from what she did to us and the other couple in Arkansas.
Cover-up: Poindexter allegedly told Christian (pictured with his son) and wife Ashley the baby’s that Laura Parton was the current girlfriend of her ex-boyfriend who was trying to ruin her day care business
‘It was the best phone call I’ve ever gotten this morning and it was about her being arrested and finally admitting what she did.’
In late July, the Stills and Partons confronted Poindexter. The affidavit says she responded to the Arkansas couple by forwarding a screen shot of an email that appeared to be from an attorney working on the adoption paperwork.
Looking for scapegoat: Poindexter tried to shift the blame to her 16-year-old sister, suggesting that the teen may have used her Facebook accounts to set up the bogus adoption
The attorney later told investigators he had never represented Poindexter, had any communication with her and was not involved with any adoption proceeding with the Missouri infant.
She told the baby’s biological parents that the would-be-adoptive mother was the current girlfriend of her ex-boyfriend who was trying to ruin her day care business.
Under questioning, Poindexter tried to shift the blame to her 16-year-old sister, suggesting that the teen may have used her Facebook accounts to set up the bogus adoption, the affidavit says.
Poindexter later admitted to investigators that she knew she didn’t have permission to take the girl to Arkansas and that she had considered giving the Partons another baby in her care.