AP News, December 14th, 2007
A South Carolina woman accused of promising couples she would be their surrogate mother has been charged with bilking at least six people out of $14,000, police said Thursday.
Jessica O'Donnell, 28, used the Internet to lure couples desperate to have children, prosecutors said. She was charged with obtaining money under false pretenses and was being held Thursday on $140,000 bail.
According to investigators, O'Donnell told people to send sperm in a plastic cup and use ice packs and a cooler to preserve the fluids. She said she would then have a friend who is a nurse inseminate her.
She claimed to be a nurse, and told them her husband, a soldier, had been killed in Iraq, authorities said. Police found several coolers at her home in Hodges, about 80 miles northwest of Columbia.
O'Donnell's husband, Daniel, 28, also has been charged with obtaining money under false pretenses, said Maj. John Murray of the Greenwood County Sheriff's Office. He was scheduled to be arraigned Thursday.
"They were just ripping these poor people's hearts out," Murray said. "She admitted what she was doing and said she knew it was wrong."
Murray said it was unclear if the O'Donnells have hired an attorney. A woman who answered the telephone at the couple's home hung up when asked about Jessica O'Donnell. A subsequent message was not returned.
Authorities began investigating two weeks ago when someone who contracted with her called the hospital where she claimed she worked. The hospital said O'Donnell had never worked there and called authorities.
According to police, victims were from Tennessee, New York, Alabama, Minnesota and Pennsylvania, but their names were not released. They told police they connected with O'Donnell through an Internet site.
Dr. Florence Hightower at Advanced Fertility and Reproductive Endocrinology Institute in West Columbia said the process can cost about $50,000, depending on the surrogate's fee.
O'Donnell claims she is 15 weeks pregnant with her husband's child, Murray said. The couple has a 1-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son, who are living with Jessica O'Donnell's parents in Hodges, Murray said.
Investigators are awaiting test results to determine whether she actually is pregnant.
