UPDATED: Attorney Jarett Smith Arrested for Attempting to Buy Babies
Attorney charged with attempting to buy babies, freed on bail for trip to Israel with daughter
COUDERSPORT – Coudersport Attorney Jarett R. Smith, of 414 Sunrise Ridge Road, Coudersport, PA, has been arrested on charges that he and other family members conspired to buy babies.
Court records indicate that on Friday, May 20, Coudersport State Police charged Smith with felony dealing in proceeds or unlawful activities, felony knowledge that property is proceeds of illegal activities, dealing in infant children(M1), criminal solicitation(M1) and conspiring to deal in infant children.
Smith allegedly conspired with other family members to purchase two separate babies from local pregnant women, so that his brother and sister-in-law could adopt the children.
Police say Smith and his former partner and ex-wife, Donna Albright-Smith, age 38, formerly of Coudersport, paid one woman, 24-year-old Krista Eveland, of Coudersport, for her baby.
Also charged in the matter is Smith’s brother, Jerome R. Smith, age 44, of Overland Park, Kansas; and Smith’s sister-in-law, Eileen Rifka Smith, age 44, of Overland Park, Kansas.
Smith was arraigned in District Judge Annette Easton’s courtroom and released on his own recognizance. Court records indicate that Smith was released without bail because of a previously planned trip to Israel with his daughter.
A special prosecutor, Jonelle Harter Eshbach, from the State Attorney General’s office will be handling the case against Smith.
A Preliminary Hearing has been scheduled for May 27 at 10:00 am in District Judge Annette Easton’s courtroom.
