To catch a baby broker

You want a baby?  No problem, says this man, he has plenty of them.

And to prove it, Thanassis --the adoption facilitator who thinks he is doing business with a new agency-- sends two prospects to the hotel room serving as the temporary headquarters of 'Network Adoptions,’ the make-believe agency Dateline has set up.

The boys. an infant just days old, and a two-year-old. arrive with their foster mothers so we can photograph them for our clients in the United States.

As two-year-old Dionisio digs into Play-Dough and this plate of cake, his foster mom tells me this isn't the first child his mother has given for adoption.

Vilma (in Spanish): Just a few months ago she decided to give up all four of her kids because she couldn't afford them anymore.

To hear Thanassis tell it, helping the needy children of Guatemala is what the adoption business is all about.

(Hidden camera)
Thanassis: I like my job, you know, it is really kids that keep me here.

But these people, who say they had nightmarish experiences with Thanassis, don't buy it .... They say what keeps him in Guatemala is money.

Rick: I mean what else is there? He certainly doesn't have the children in mind when he's making these choices and lying to us.

We heard plenty of complaints about Thanassis, but we wanted to see for ourselves just how far he would go to see an adoption through.

(Hidden camera)
Victoria Corderi: And you don't have any like - any kind of - no pull?
Thanassis: (dismissing motion with hand) No.

I tell Thanassis we've heard you can bribe the Guatemalan agency that approves adoptions, the PGN, to speed up a case but he says not anymore.

(Hidden camera)
Thanassis: Before, yes, before we did. You give him a $1,500, and they give it to you in a week. Now, not this guy.

So, no bribes, but what about a prospective parent with a questionable past? I tell him that the social worker's home study for one of my clients - a critical part of the adoption paperwork -- revealed sexual abuse accusations.

(Hidden camera)
Victoria Corderi: A long time ago the guy's ex-wife, OK, accused him of child sex abuse. It had to be noted in the home study. It had to be noted
Thanassis: You're never going to get a baby.
Victoria Corderi: I don't think this guy is really a molester.
Thanassis: I’m not going to accept this. If I know that the guy is a wife abuser, drug pusher, or a sexual-

For a moment, it sounds as if Thanassis is doing the right thing -- until he reveals the reason he won't accept my imaginary client. It's only because he says the case will never get approved by the government, the PGN.

(Hidden camera)
Thanassis: I know the case is going to be rejected in PGN. Child molestation. Ah, forget it.

Later, he reconsiders. The next day, after I meet the little boy Dionisio, I tell Thanassis that I think the accused sexual abuser will be interested in adopting the boy. And this time, he has some suggestions.

(Hidden camera)
Thanassis: Before you even do anything, check the police records. If you can get a clear police, you know, police record but can you buy the - you can buy them here in Guatemala or in Cuba or in Greece, the police. Can you buy them, can you buy them in the United States?

Yes, he's asking if we can bribe the police into removing a charge of child molestation from a prospective adoptive parent's record. And, he has another suggestion: if the abuse accusation is only in the social worker's home study, I should doctor the paperwork.

(Hidden camera)
Thanassis: So, if there is not, in the police record-- redo the home study, take him off the home study.
Victoria Corderi: Take the child molestation off?
Thanassis: Yes, yes, definitely. Definitely.

Remember, Thanassis still has no idea that Network Adoptions is really Dateline.

When our meeting is over, he shakes my hand cheerfully .

Sean: He's very charming. So if you have no sense that you're dealing with someone who's, you know, duplicitous, then you're going to like the guy.

These former clients say it's infuriating that Thanassis so brazenly defies the U.S. embassy ban.

Stacy: He has no business working.
Rick: Stop doing this. Stop facilitating adoptions like the U.S. embassy has already asked him to stop

But that doesn't seem likely. Within days of our return to the states, Thanassis leaves messages on the Network Adoptions answering machine.

And he sends us faxes with photos and documents of more children for our clients.

We tell Thanassis we won't be able to work with him because we've hit an unexpected snag.

But four months later,  we call to say we're back in Guatemala, and would like to talk.

This time, we're looking for answers. We meet him for coffee, wearing hidden cameras. He still thinks we are an adoption agency.

(Hidden camera)
Victoria Corderi: Let's be serious right away. But this is no cozy chat … I found out that you were banned by the embassy in March of 2005.
Thanassis: Right.
Victoria Corderi: Yet you said did 167 cases last year. How is that possible?
Thanassis: Why not? Because I am not banned anymore.
Victoria Corderi: They said you are presently banned
Thanassis: They tell you the reason?
Victoria Corderi: You're under investigation, there have been a lot of complaints about you, with paperwork, and other things.
Thanassis: No, that's wrong. They lied to you.

Thanassis insists he was only banned because he got into an argument with someone at the U.S. embassy and that it had nothing to do with the adoption business.

He has an answer ready for every question.

I remind him that he suggested I falsify a client's home study to erase allegations of child sexual abuse.

(Hidden camera)
Thanassis: No, I didn't suggest that, you know.
Victoria Corderi: You did, I heard it. You don't think there's something wrong with that?
Thanassis: Well if you think the family is - if the family is capable of you know, taking care of the kids.

Thanassis is visibly agitated, and it may only get worse -- because he's about to find out who we really are.

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