Putnam County woman turns herself in, charged in adoption scheme after FDLE investigation

INTERLACHEN, Fla. — Action News Jax's Bridgette Matter is working to get in touch with Tina Scee and will have a live report on CBS47 & FOX30 Action News Jax at 5.

A Putnam County woman accused of a child adoption scheme involving a couple from Ohio was arrested on charges of organized scheme to defraud, grand theft, illegally placing a child for adoption and perjury by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Action News Jax first reported on allegations involving Tina Scee, now 54, in June 2018 after Tim Anda and his husband thought they were able to adopt then 2-year-old Dylan from Scee in 2017.

Scee was Dylan's foster parent before adopting him in late 2017, according to FDLE.

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The couple told Action News Jax in a previous report that they met Dylan through a friend while he was in Scee's care.

The Department of Children and Families said Scee was a non-relative caregiver for the state of Florida, but Anda says from the very beginning she presented herself as a state employee.

"From the very first moment, Tina presented herself as somebody who worked with DCF and helped find forever homes for children," Anda previously told Action News Jax.

FDLE found that Scee presented herself as a DCF worker trying to find adoptive homes for children.

The investigation also found that Scee in fact allowed Dylan to go with Anda and his husband to Ohio, but authorities said she had them return to Florida several times in September and October 2017 before her adoption of Dylan was complete in order to deceive DCF during site visits.

Scee also received SNAP benefits and day care assistance of nearly $4,000 while Dylan was in Ohio.

During the October 2017 visit to Florida, Dylan was with Scee at the final adoption hearing where she was granted adoption.

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FDLE found that immediately following that hearing, Dylan was returned to Anda and his husband, who returned to Ohio.

Anda previously told Action News Jax that when they brought Dylan back to Ohio, they stopped hearing from Scee.

When Anda and his husband were not able to obtain legal documents necessary to complete their adoption of Dylan, they contacted the Florida Community Partnership for Children, which in turn contacted DCF, according to FDLE.

"I kept sending text messages asking if she had received the (adoption) paperwork or if she filed it,” Anda previously told Action News Jax.

FDLE said that Scee received no money from the couple.

Scee turned herself in to the St. Johns County Jail and was released on a $20,000 bond.

Cox Media Group