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Lisa Wing charged in adoption fraud

By Kathee Baird
A couple from Joplin are facing charges felony stealing and forgery in an alleged fraudulent adoption scheme connected to the deadly May tornado.
On August 24th the Joplin Police Department was notified that Lisa Joan Wing, 29, and Lonnie L. Riddell, 30, had provided false documents to a Baltimore, Maryland couple that was supposed to adopt the couple’s baby and the adoption agency involved.  The couple from Maryland had given Wing and Riddell almost $3,000 to help with rent payments, cell phone bills, food and clothing.
During the investigation it was learned that Wing and Riddell , who had also made arrangements with another couple from Arkansas for $10,000 in exchange for the baby, traveled from Tulsa, Oklahoma after the May 22nd tornado and claimed they were victims of the disaster and sought help from the community in an interview with KSPR news in Sprngfield.
The baby is now in protective custody of DFS.

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