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Posted: Saturday, November 20th, 2004 7:17 AM HST

Kauai woman gets 18-month sentence in Cambodian adoptions case

By Associated Press

SEATTLE (AP) _ A Kauai woman who took children from Cambodia and offered them for adoption has been sentenced in Seattle to a year-and-a-half in prison. Fifty-three-year-old Lauryn Galindo of Hanalei had pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiracy to commit visa fraud and to launder money. Galindo's sister, Lynn Devin of Mercer Island, ran Seattle International Adoptions until it was closed by federal officials. The sisters arranged hundreds of adoptions from Cambodia, including one for actress Angelina Jolie -- although there was nothing fraudulent in that case. Investigators said that not all of the children put up for adoption were truly orphans. They said some had been bought from poor families. As part of her sentence, Galindo was ordered to forfeit her home in Hawaii, worth one-point-four (m) million dollars. In her guilty plea last July, Galindo admitted she misrepresented some Cambodian children as orphans. Devin pleaded guilty to related charges and will be sentenced next month. (Copyright 2004 by the Associated Press. All rights reserved.)