Mike Matheny

We're, like, in the middle of it. Tara's got our money. We're already in Detroit.

By Tuesday, I literally was like, if this dinner, like, if we don't meet these people today, like, we're leaving. I'm out of here. Next time on Baby Broker. As we drive to Port Huron, it's supposed to be me and Teresa, birth mom, birth father, and Tara. The FBI gets involved.

We don't know anything about birth mom's medical condition. It was high risk.

She said, it's got to be business as usual.

We're still trying to figure out which way is up. Who's on our team? Who's not? What's true? What's real? Don't talk to these women.

Basically drove from Atlanta to Michigan, not knowing whether our adoption was real, whether our birth mom was real.

Somebody asked me yesterday what I would say to you if you were in front of me, and the only thing I kept coming back to was, what if it was one of your children? What if it was your daughter that was pregnant or your daughter that couldn't have children who was trying to adopt, and somebody came in, a predator, and preyed on them?

It was just this, like, holy shit moment. Oh my gosh, this is Nick. This is the family.

And so I think by connecting and meeting us and seeing how S was thriving, right, it also gave them that answer of like, okay, we did the right thing for us and he's where he's supposed to be.

And they eventually give like Interpol what they need to find this guy. I feel like it's a good analogy for sort of our little Facebook group. The rule of the group was once you're admitted, you have to sort of write out your family's story with how you connected with Tara.

there were so many lies it's like you're almost able to piece things together in your story based on the information in other people's stories yeah there was like someone that said that you know tara collected eight ten fifteen thousand dollars or whatever you know on october 25th and we're like we were with her in the hospital that whole day so it's like where she was clickety clacking on her cell phone it's like she was in there robbing people blind while our son was being born

Nick was in the back of the courtroom and heard us read our impact statement. And he was the one that made the connection that, oh my gosh, this is the family that was matched with Stephanie.

Did you ever see the documentary, Don't Fuck With Cats? I have not seen it, no. Guy starts out hurting animals online and ends up killing a human. It's like this group of normal people come together online where they're like putting together pieces of the puzzle, like the wrapper from the cigarette and the picture on the wall in the hotel to track this guy down.

With no Tara. And so we just kind of start talking and we find one of those just little random like sitting areas. She was like, oh, Tara's upset with you guys about something. Okay. I said, she wants us to pay her more money and we're not going to pay her. She's not providing the services. The rent wasn't paid. Their electric was about to be cut off. No insurance on the cars.

The tires hadn't been put on. There's no food in the house. I said, I can do one of two things. I said, I can either pay Tara so that she goes away, or we can tell Tara to fuck off, and I can put that money to use to help you guys. I had spoken to the attorneys.

The attorneys confirmed that as long as everything was documented and we weren't giving cash, I could pay their rent and then submit receipts directly myself. And so that was what we chose to do.

Tara was literally marching around the hospital trying to find us. And we're sitting at a table and Tanya's got her phone. Tara called her no less than 15 times.

Just calling over and over and over again. Like this is how convoluted it got. Talia called me and said, hey, I've got to send your wife a text. I want you to know it's not real. I need to send it so I can screenshot it and send it back to Tara. It was time to turn Tara Lee's tactics against her.

And so Talia sends Teresa this text basically like demanding the attorney's fee, accusing us of being shady and blah, blah, blah. Talia was like, now I need your wife to respond back to that text so I can screenshot and send the answer. So, like, we answer from Teresa's phone saying, oh, I'm so sorry. We don't mean to be shady. I have to transfer some money from a brokerage account.

The transfer is going to take a few days. You know, blah, blah, blah. Like, you know, so that was how we bought time. So, of course, you know, I'm like... And please let Tara know that she's been such an angel through this whole process, you know, like just like really like overplaying the hand.

It was like after Talia sends it to Tara, then Tara responds and was like, well, at least she recognizes it. Tara Lee never got her $4,000.

It's like my first time driving with a baby. Yeah.

And it's pouring and he screamed like the whole way.

He decided that he was over it by the time we hit like southern Ohio. And then it rained. Yes, the entire way home. I'm talking port from southern Ohio through Kentucky, through Tennessee, all the way to the doorstep.

It was 100% that the birth mom was terrified of Tara.

Tara's got our money. We're already in Detroit. We're like in the middle of it. You keep asking for more money and it's like nobody wants to cut ties.

We met Tara in Chick-fil-A downstairs, which was like, we're like on pins and needles. And Tara was like, I'm famished, you know? Like, we're going to go sit in Chick-fil-A and have a chicken sandwich.

This bullshit story about how, you know, that morning she was at the bank, at Bank of America, blah, blah, blah, like conducting some business. And she, you know, she blacked out and she fell and she hit her head and she had to go get multiple stitches.

And she was telling us that she probably had a concussion and that the doctor told her that she needed bed rest, but it was so important for her to be there for us. for the birth of this baby. And the reason I say that's important is because there were so many of those type of stories.

Gunshot. Did she seem like she had a concussion?

Tara's sitting in the corner of the table. Teresa and I are literally sitting in chairs against the wall. Facing the bed. While Tara is, you know, on her cell phone, Like, the whole dynamic was just so freaking weird.

And Tara comes to me and was basically like, so, can I get that check? I walked past her like she didn't exist.

Like, here we are. This is real.

I think she had every intention of having us drive to Detroit. I don't think she had any intention of us going home with the baby.

She's camped out waiting for us, and she is pissed off. because she wants her money. Teresa said they ignored Tara Lee's demand for her final $4,000 payment. And that's when we put the hospital on notice that we didn't want Tara anywhere near the NICU.

And so I called what turned out to be Matt's cell phone, left him a voicemail. And then it was like, I don't know, probably lunchtime. I was walking into the hospital by myself. I had just parked the car. It was snowing. I see this 313 number. Mike answered.

Well, and then we're freaking out because we're like, wait a second, this baby's supposed to be born in less than two weeks.

She goes to Ghana, she comes back. It was once she got back and we knew that she was back, that's when I started reaching out to her. I would text her and be like, hey, how are you? I heard you're back from Ghana. And she'd be like, yeah, I'm back. How was your trip? Great. We'd exchange pleasantries and go back and forth.

And the minute that I asked anything regarding S's birth mom, medical, anything of substance, she went dark. She wouldn't respond. It was such a mind fuck, pardon my language.

Basic information.

This is like where it all started to get weird, where I started to kind of raise an eyebrow.

One of sort of the MO for Tara, which comes up over and over again, is, you know, she used to always go back to, you know, her, you know how these girls are. Talking about women at the methadone clinic, women on drugs, you know how these girls are. And what did you think she meant by that?

I'm also in recovery. So, myself, you know, I've been sober for a long time. I find it kind of offensive. It's like, you know how those people are, you know? It's like, no, tell me, how are they?

And that we were going to be in Michigan in October.

When Teresa was talking about Tara, our first conversation with her, God, I hope she hears this, I hate her voice, okay? Her voice was like nails on a chalkboard for me. And from the very beginning, I had like this spidey sense that like something was not right with her.

We didn't know what to believe, what was true.

Oh, absolutely.

Anything's better than Matheny.

That's how we identify telemarketers. Or people asking if we want to sell our house.

Oh, shoot.

At the time I was a recruiter, Mike helps people find jobs, you know, et cetera, et cetera.

We'll just say these are not our people. Yes, yes, yes. And get to throw on a shirt and tie and pretend like we belong there, you know what I mean?

Two weeks to the day from when we had this phone call. We're looking at each other going like, oh my God, this is happening. Like, this is amazing.

She was like, I'll send you guys a contract and you guys can get me the money, you know. Just, okay, where do I send it?

We're driving back from dinner, and that is when everything sort of flipped upside down.

Which was two weeks to the day from when we had this phone call. So we were literally thinking like, oh my God, we're going to have to go home after this wedding and literally pack our stuff and go to Michigan.

She literally said like, I'm just here in case things get weird.

We're scrambling. We don't know how long we need to be in Michigan. I don't know where we need to even stay.

And then that's where I'm like, I think it was like Monday where I started to wait a second. She never sent us the contract. You know, I'm still not seeing a contract. I'm trying to get Tara on the phone. I can't get her on the phone.