Baby Broker | 2. Three Babies

Summary

The Binge Cases: Baby Broker — Episode 2: Three Babies

Host: Sony Music Entertainment
Release Date: February 10, 2025

---

Overview

In the second episode of The Binge Cases: Baby Broker, host Peter McDonnell delves deeper into the intricate and manipulative world of Tara Lee, the founder of Always Hope Adoption Agency. This episode focuses on the Granites—Tammy and Nick—who navigate the turbulent waters of adoption under Tara Lee's control, leading to a shocking revelation of manipulation and fraud that intertwines their fate with another couple, Teresa and Mike Matheny.

---

The Granites' Adoption Journey

Tammy and Nick Granite, a couple deeply longing to become parents, initially turned away from traditional private adoption agencies due to their uncomfortable experiences with discriminatory practices and exorbitant fees. Instead, leveraging their successful hair and makeup business, they sought the expertise of an adoption consultant who introduced them to Tara Lee of Always Hope Adoption Agency in Detroit.

Tammy Granite [02:03]: "To be honest, I always knew that likely I couldn't have my own children. I just knew it. So how I felt is I want to adopt."

The Granites were swiftly matched with two birth mothers through Tara Lee, paying approximately $20,000—a sum intended to cover living expenses for the birth mothers and legal fees. Their preparations included baby-proofing their home and setting up nurseries, signaling their readiness for parenthood.

---

Introduction of Stephanie and the Third Match

As Tammy and Nick prepared for the impending adoptions, Tara Lee introduced a third birth mother, Stephanie, under seemingly accidental circumstances. This unexpected match added complexity to their adoption plans.

Tammy Granite [05:28]: "This is where it gets even more wild. And I can never forget it."

The introduction of Stephanie coincided with doubts about their second match with Sabrina, raising red flags about Tara Lee’s practices. Tara Lee's insistence that the Granites adopt Stephanie's baby—a boy named Atticus—despite their prior preparations for a girl, showcased her manipulative control over the adoption process.

Nick Granite [07:06]: "And she's just falling in love with you guys. And we're completely silent on our end."

---

Red Flags and Rising Tensions

As the Granites delved deeper into the adoption process, inconsistencies began to surface. Tara Lee's updates about Sabrina were distressing and unprofessional, portraying Sabrina in a negative light and withholding crucial information. The situation escalated when Tara Lee claimed that Sabrina was on the brink of despair, pressuring the Granites to remain matched with her.

Tammy Granite [20:01]: "She was saying that no matter what, the baby was going to be special needs."

The agency's behavior, including abrupt cancellations and shifting blame, further eroded the Granites' trust. The revelation that Tara Lee was orchestrating a "double match" without the couples' knowledge highlighted the sinister extent of her manipulation.

---

Manipulation and Fraud Unveiled

The Granites' suspicions intensified when they discovered discrepancies in the financial transactions and the authenticity of the baby matches. Tara Lee's deceitful tactics, including fake ultrasounds and emotional blackmail, were meticulously documented by Tammy, who began compiling evidence of fraud.

Nick Granite [23:37]: "If we're still matched with Sabrina and the potential child that comes from that, they would have put us with three kids."

The situation reached a critical point when the FBI initiated a secret investigation into Tara Lee for adoption fraud, uncovering the breadth of her criminal scheme. The convergence of the Granites and the Mathenys in Detroit set the stage for a collective response against Tara Lee's manipulation.

---

Conclusion and Upcoming Conflict

As both couples converged in Detroit, unaware of each other's involvement, they were poised to confront Tara Lee's fraudulent operations. The Granites, armed with evidence and determined to reclaim their integrity, joined forces with the Mathenys to expose and dismantle Tara Lee's criminal network.

Peter McDonnell [33:19]: "We knew we had given this money."

The episode culminates with the imminent clash between the affected families and Tara Lee, promising a dramatic resolution to the harrowing tale of deception and resilience.

---

Notable Quotes

• Tammy Granite [02:03]: "To be honest, I always knew that likely I couldn't have my own children. I just knew it. So how I felt is I want to adopt."
• Nick Granite [07:06]: "And she's just falling in love with you guys. And we're completely silent on our end."
• Tammy Granite [05:28]: "This is where it gets even more wild. And I can never forget it."
• Nick Granite [23:37]: "If we're still matched with Sabrina and the potential child that comes from that, they would have put us with three kids."
• Peter McDonnell [33:19]: "We knew we had given this money."

---

Final Thoughts

Episode 2 of Baby Broker masterfully unravels the complexities and emotional turmoil faced by adoptive parents manipulated by a cunning and unscrupulous adoption broker. Through the Granites' journey, listeners gain insight into the darker aspects of adoption fraud and the resilience required to overcome such adversities. The impending confrontation in Detroit sets the stage for an enthralling continuation of this true crime saga.

---

Stay tuned for the next episode of Baby Broker to witness the culmination of Tammy and Nick Granite's fight against Tara Lee's criminal enterprise.

Transcript

[Peter McDonnell]

I can say to my new Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, hey, find a keto friendly restaurant nearby and text it to Beth and Steve. And it does without me lifting a finger so I can get in more squats anywhere I can. 1, 2, 3 will that be cash or credit?

[Tammy Granite]

Credit.

[Peter McDonnell]

4 Galaxy S25 Ultra the AI companion that does the heavy lifting so you.

[Tammy Granite]

Can do you get [e-mail] compatible with select apps. Requires Google Gemini account.

[Peter McDonnell]

Results may vary based on input. Check responses for accuracy. Listen to all episodes of Baby Broker ad free right now by subscribing to the Binge. Visit the Binge channel on Apple Podcasts and hit subscribe at the top of the page or visit getthebinge.com to get access wherever you listen the Binge feed your true crime obsession the Binge before we begin, please be advised that this episode includes discussions of suicide and sexual assault. Listener discretion is advised. In the previous episode, Teresa and Mike Matheny learned of a secret FBI investigation into Tera Lee and Always Hope. They packed their car with everything they needed to take care of a baby and set out from Atlanta to Detroit in a desperate attempt to rescue their adoption. Their heads were spinning. Did Tara Lee lie to them about Stephanie? Was the baby boy even real? It didn't even occur to them that their son might also have been promised to another couple in what the FBI would come to call a double match. But there was another couple who wanted their baby, Tammy and Nick Granite. When I met the Granites at a recording studio near their home in Chicago last fall, Tammy told me she'd been thinking about adopting for a long time.

[Tammy Granite]

To be honest, I always knew that likely I couldn't have my own children. I just knew it. So how I felt is I want to adopt.

[Nick Granite]

It's one thing saying it out loud and it's fine. It's a completely different undertaking when you're.

[Peter McDonnell]

Actually, what did you imagine it would be like?

[Nick Granite]

I have got to be honest, it wasn't this.

[Peter McDonnell]

Like most families trying to adopt, Nick and Tammy figured they'd sign up with a private adoption agency which would match them with a birth mom. But they rejected that idea after visiting an agency in Chicago.

[Tammy Granite]

And they flat out tell you, you know, are you looking for a Caucasian baby or are you looking for, you know, an ethnic or African American baby? And for us, we were open to any gender, any race, and they right away just made it very clear, oh, wow, okay, well, you guys are gonna, you're gonna match quicker. And also, if you go for an African American child. It is less money. And that really bothered us.

[Nick Granite]

We also asked the average wait list for most of the families. They were saying creeping up to four to five years. And it's because they're waiting for essentially a blond, blue eyed baby boy to drop out of the sky. Their specific clientele is more wealthy.

[Peter McDonnell]

So the Granites took another route. They run a successful company doing hair and makeup for hundreds of weddings a year. Tammy is the creative visionary. Nick runs the business side. They work with a lot of wedding planners and they wanted someone like that to help them with their adoption, someone to connect them with adoption opportunities in different states and guide them along the way. So the Granites hired an adoption consultant and right away she had a lead.

[Tammy Granite]

The first person she told us about was Tara Lee. It's called Always Hope Adoption Agency out of Detroit, Michigan. She had reassured us, there's so many babies coming out of this agency.

[Peter McDonnell]

Over the next few months, Tara Lee matched them with two different birth moms. It was like winning the adoption lottery. Incredibly, both women were set to deliver in the same hospital at the same time in early September. And Stephanie from the last episode was not one of them. Adoptions are expensive, ranging from $10,000 to more than 60. Tara Lee's cost was in the middle, which was another way she appealed to clients to secure their two adoptions. The Granites paid her about $20,000. About half would go toward the birth mother's living expenses. Another 25,000 or so was due at delivery, including legal fees the Granites had been saving for years and could afford it. By late August 2018, the Granites had baby proofed their house and decorated two nurseries. In just two weeks, they'd pack a car and drive to Detroit for both births. It was all set. But you know what they say about best laid plans.

[Tammy Granite]

This is where it gets even more wild. And I can never forget it. It was a Saturday and I had done a wedding. I came home and he was mowing the lawn. And Tara Lee calls me. Immediately, her stomach just drops. Because you're thinking, oh my gosh, something's going on with my match. And I answer the phone and she said, stop what you're doing. And I said, oh, Nick's mowing the lawn. Do you want me to stop him? Yep. Stop what you're doing. And so I walk over and I could distinctly, I can even tell you, like on my driveway where I stood and I signaled to him to stop and I threw speakerphone on and then she's like, okay, Tammy, Nick, meet Birth mother, Stephanie. And all of a sudden you just hear this voice that goes, hello. And you're thinking, what? She has me on the phone with another birth mom. Tara Lee starts telling us that she accidentally. And that's the word she used. She accidentally showed our profile to Stephanie.

[Peter McDonnell]

The same Stephanie the Mathenys matched with in the last episode. The Granites had been working with Tara Lee for five rollercoaster months. Their rose colored glasses had cleared. They were ready to be done with her. But they knew no Tara Lee, no babies. They couldn't believe that Tara Lee would cold call them with an offer of a third baby. With the birth mother on the phone, Stephanie was begging them to take her baby.

[Tammy Granite]

I knew it had to be you. This was God telling her that it was us.

[Nick Granite]

And she just fell in love with you guys. And we're completely silent on our end. We're like. Or we're getting matched now a third time with Tara Lee.

[Tammy Granite]

She said, you'll be in the hospital at the same time.

[Peter McDonnell]

Did she really think they'd consider adopting a third baby?

[Tammy Granite]

And we're just staring at each other like there's no way this is real.

[Peter McDonnell]

And you feel like she's trying to get you to give an answer right there in the driveway. Right?

[Nick Granite]

Exactly.

[Tammy Granite]

She was.

[Nick Granite]

Oh, absolutely.

[Peter McDonnell]

From Sony Music Entertainment and perfect Cadence. This is Baby broker. I'm Peter McDonnell. Episode 2 Three Babies Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. I don't know if you knew this, but anyone can get the same Premium Wireless for $15 a month plan that I've been enjoying. It's not just for celebrities. So do like I did and have one of your assistant's assistants switch you to Mint Mobile today. I'm told it's super easy to [e-mail] Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees, extra default [e-mail] this.

[Tammy Granite]

Episode is brought to you by Intuit. TurboTax didn't file with TurboTax last year. That's in the past. Now taxes is getting the TurboTax app and filing your own taxes for free if you didn't file with them last year. Filed by February 18th. All tax forms all 100% free. Now this is taxes intuit TurboTax. New filers and filers who didn't use TurboTax last year only must start and file your own taxes in app by February 18th. Excludes TurboTax. Live full [e-mail].

[Peter McDonnell]

Tammy and Nick Granith stood dumbfounded in their driveway. At Tara Lee's urging, Stephanie was pleading with them to adopt her baby. Here's where the story gets a little more complicated. Because one of their two matches was in jeopardy. The faltering match was with a birth mom named Sabrina, who had a harrowing story. As Tara Lee was going on and on about Stephanie, all the Granites could think about was Sabrina.

[Nick Granite]

And then Tammy does interject, like, what about Sabrina? And she wants to forget Sabrina. Forget, like, blatantly, straight out, forget about Sabrina.

[Peter McDonnell]

The Granites could no sooner forget about Sabrina than they could forget how desperately they wanted to be parents. She was etched into their lives. She was going to give them a child, and she'd been through hell to get pregnant. But in one fell swoop, Tara Lee wanted them to discard her like yesterday's fashion and try on a new birth moment in their life. For Tara Lee, it was like babies were interchangeable, like pawns on a chessboard. Sabrina was 19, and the granites had been matched with her for five months. It was a closed adoption, which meant Sabrina's identity was confidential. The Granites had never seen a picture of her, didn't know her last name, and would never have any communication with her. I asked the Granite to take me back to when they first heard Sabrina's story, months before Tara Lee's surprise phone call in August.

[Tammy Granite]

So we did, on March 30, have a phone call with Tara Lee. And I distinctly remember, and I've now heard, that this is kind of her spiel to everybody. She was like, I cuss like a trucker. I'm extremely blunt. I'm not out here for the money. I'm doing this to help young women. There was nobody in Detroit helping them. I have so many, many birth moms. And basically, she told us the story of Sabrina. And Sabrina is a girl who loved makeup, loved doing hair, loved the mall. She was Caucasian. She was blonde with blue eyes.

[Peter McDonnell]

So Sabrina, what's her living situation?

[Tammy Granite]

She lived with her parents. They described it as. That's their only daughter. Sabrina was raised in a town, a very little town. And this town had like 4,000 people. It was very small. And she said it was a fishing town. And we were told that birth mom was receiving daily therapy. We weren't allowed to see her picture, and we couldn't receive any medical updates related to her or her future child. When she gives birth, we are to be at the hospital, but they're going to provide A room next door because she doesn't want us to meet her.

[Peter McDonnell]

The reason Sybrina wanted a closed adoption is upsetting.

[Tammy Granite]

We were told that she was a victim of gang rape. She had been at this party. She was just 19, wild, having fun, and this horrible, horrible thing happened to her. I remember distinctly the story being so at a trap house. Like, stairs were broken, she couldn't run, it was dark.

[Nick Granite]

It just happened back then. Yeah, exactly.

[Tammy Granite]

Four men had committed the crime and they weren't caught. And that the identity of the birth father was unknown. And her parents right away told her, you're going to put the baby up for adoption. They did not believe in abortion.

[Peter McDonnell]

Tammy said she liked Sybrina because she could see herself in her.

[Tammy Granite]

Like, I just pictured this girl who was, you know, young and just living her life and just got into this horrible circumstance. And being that she loved to fish and she loved makeup and she loved shopping and she loved perfume and everything. I just pictured her almost as myself. Like, I really connected to her.

[Peter McDonnell]

But Tara Lee said Sybrina was still weighing her options.

[Tammy Granite]

It's between you and another family. But Sabrina wants to know, how are you going to tell this child that it was conceived? So I said, we're going to be honest. We'll have to cross that bridge when we get there as to how honest. And she was like, okay, great.

[Peter McDonnell]

By the way, it's abnormal and unprofessional for an adoption facilitator to pit families against one another to win a birth mother's favor. Lucky for Tammy and Nick, though, Tara Lee said that their answer was the one Sabrina wanted. And sometimes it's the little things that a birth mom sees in a couple that makes her choose them.

[Tammy Granite]

So we were told by Tara Lee that she chose us because in her profile book, there's a sentence about, I love to fish. I grew up fishing.

[Nick Granite]

You're like, of all the things.

[Tammy Granite]

Yeah, so of all the things.

[Peter McDonnell]

Nick, Tammy and I were sitting around a table in a basement recording studio in Chicago. As their story progressed, Nick kept shaking his head and sighing in exasperation as he remembered how Tara Lee manipulated them. Tammy sat very still, but I could sense her churning with emotion. I think one reason the Granites are successful in their business is that they carefully weigh their decisions. They try to see where different outcomes will lead. But on the Tara Lee roller coaster to adoption, they couldn't see what was coming. They just knew there was a baby at the end of the ride. In the wedding business, they were used to working with people who were really good at their specialized jobs. Tara Lee was kind of a mess. They needed to talk to someone who had seen it all in the adoption world and could tell them it was okay to match with Sabrina. They needed their consultant.

[Tammy Granite]

Just calling her, calling her, calling her. And finally she answered her phone and she was like, you know, I'm going out to dinner. I'm going out to dinner. And I'm thinking, well, I need to know if I'm signing to adopt a child. We just felt so, like, oh, my gosh, we're in. We're left alone, kind of. You feel left in the middle of a field.

[Peter McDonnell]

Had the consultant told Tammy and Nick that something about Sabrina's match seemed fishy? Had she cautioned them to reconsider? I think they would have turned Tara Lee down. But she didn't say that. They told me. She said it sounded fine, that she'd heard of situations like Sabrina's. Then she went to dinner. Later that night, as Tammy and Nick wrestled with this big decision, they remembered something reassuring. An instructor told them in an adoption class they'd taken a few months earlier.

[Nick Granite]

You'Re gonna answer tough questions. You're gonna have these weird scenarios that you completely don't conceive of.

[Tammy Granite]

And I remember being like, no, we could totally do this.

[Nick Granite]

We were like, okay, we're in.

[Tammy Granite]

Yeah.

[Peter McDonnell]

They told Tara Lee Yes.

[Tammy Granite]

And then March 31st, we were matched. Tara Lee said, I wanna be very upfront that you're matching with her at three months pregnant, and due to the fact that she's in therapy daily, your fees are going to be way higher than a normal match.

[Peter McDonnell]

To secure the adoption. Tammy and Nick told me they signed a contract with Always Hope and sent Tara Lee about $15,000 for Sybrina's living expenses and counseling services. Much more would be due upon delivery. They had six months to get everything ready.

[Tammy Granite]

And I'm like, okay, I can start buying stuff. I could start getting clothes and doing the nursery. I loved our nursery. I love our nursery. Like, I just wanted it to look almost like a castle style, but all pure white. And I did the theme, like stars, because I love Coldplay. And so everything was themed after their song Yellow over the Crib, it said, look at the stars. Look how they shine for you.

[Peter McDonnell]

Because it was a closed adoption, the Granites weren't supposed to get any updates about Sabrina. But then they did. Distressing updates that were full of details.

[Tammy Granite]

Tara Lee would send very erratic text messages saying, sybrina's having a horrible day. Sybrina didn't show to her doctor.

[Peter McDonnell]

Right. Tara Lee made it seem as if that was just how it went with these birth moms she worked with in Detroit.

[Tammy Granite]

She would act as if they were had drug issues, had no moral values. They were in the situations that they were in because of themselves. You know how these girls are.

[Peter McDonnell]

That kind of talk didn't sit well with Tammy and Nick. Sabrina, for one, had been raped, and that wasn't her fault. Although the updates Tara Lee gave them were upsetting, there was one update they really wanted.

[Tammy Granite]

One of the things I said to her is, would you be able to take her to an ultrasound to get the gender reveal? Supposedly, she was very skittish of the doctors and didn't want to do these things. And I said, could you please take her? Just so I could start prepping everything. I would love to know the gender of the baby. Oh, my goodness. I'm hoping it's a girl.

[Peter McDonnell]

Tara Lee sent them an ultrasound image with the word girl. The next day, the Granites had a gender reveal party and decided to name the baby Avery.

[Tammy Granite]

Avery was always a name that I absolutely loved.

[Peter McDonnell]

Naming the baby, revealing her gender, and decorating her nursery were the high points of the match with Sabrina. In late June, things took a dark turn. Tara Lee was coming to Chicago with one of her daughters for the Pride Parade and wanted to meet the Granites for dinner to give them an update on Sabrina.

[Tammy Granite]

It was a Saturday, and we just kept saying, hey, where are we meeting? Where are we meeting? I was waiting for this moment to be in person with her, to be able to find out all of the information about our child.

[Peter McDonnell]

But it was getting late. They were supposed to meet at 5, and they'd heard nothing.

[Tammy Granite]

And our consultant ended up reaching out to us and she said, so Tara Lee is not in town.

[Peter McDonnell]

Tara Lee had had a crisis with a birth mother in Detroit. So instead of dinner in Chicago, they'd have to do a video call on Skype. The Granites were pissed, but Tara Lee held a trump card.

[Tammy Granite]

And so she gets on the Skype with us and she tells us that the reason she can't come is because this birth mom was shot in her car in a parking lot and lost the baby.

[Peter McDonnell]

Tara Lee said the murdered birth mother, Rashonda, had been matched with a couple, and they were devastated. She told the Granite she was paying for Rashonda's funeral herself and was collecting donations if they wanted to contribute. Then Tara Lee gave them a grim update about Sabrina.

[Tammy Granite]

She was taking entire bottles of pills. She tried to drown herself in A bathtub. They had to pump her stomach. She's saying that they had to bring her back to life multiple times. I was crying so intensely. It was just like a stab in the heart. I remember distinctly her saying that no matter what, the baby was going to be special needs. We turned off our cell phones that day, and I just went on a drive. We just went and drove because we couldn't talk to our family. It was too heavy. We couldn't talk to anyone. We just.

[Nick Granite]

Because they have too many questions that we don't have answers to.

[Peter McDonnell]

In need of help, they called their adoption consultant.

[Tammy Granite]

Our consultant says to us that we have two different options. She's like, you can back out. Your other option is that you stay matched. Because our concern was we were told that Tara Lee made it clear that if we didn't stay matched, that it was very likely that Sabrina would kill herself and kill the baby.

[Peter McDonnell]

Sabrina's life is in your hands, and the baby's life is in your hands.

[Tammy Granite]

Literally. Yeah. So in that weekend, we made the decision to stay with Tara Lee and Always Hope and to stay with Sabrina.

[Peter McDonnell]

But the match with Sabrina had begun to feel less likely to happen. So because the Granites were open to having two children, Tara Lee tried to match them with a second birth moment. And yes, this was all before that startling phone call in the driveway when Tara Lee introduced them to Stephanie, the third birth mother.

[Nick Granite]

So now at this point, she's actively searching for a second birth mother for us. And then we do we actually see said birth mother on a video call. And there she is, flesh and blood.

[Tammy Granite]

She asked us a lot of questions, which I appreciated. She was very open about why she was going to be giving her baby up for adoption. She was having a baby girl. She has a son, she has a daughter, and then she's pregnant with another little girl. And the craziest part was that Sarah was due September 7th of 2018. I was like, wow, this is a baby girl who's literally due the same.

[Peter McDonnell]

Week, the same week as Sabrina's baby. So that was the complicated situation the Granites were in when Tara Lee called them in August and introduced them to Stephanie. Remember Tammy told Nick to stop mowing the lawn. And then they were both on speakerphone with Tara Lee.

[Nick Granite]

This phone call is completely bonkers and off the wall.

[Tammy Granite]

She kept telling us, forget about Serena's baby. And she says to us, sabrina's gonna raise that baby whether it lives or dies. And I'll never forget that. How did we go from being told we can't unmatch with Sabrina. We can't unmatch with this baby. And then being told forget about her and match to this new mom, Stephanie and this new baby.

[Peter McDonnell]

Like a lot of complicated things. This all started really simply with their wish to adopt a baby. Their first match had been brutal, but they stayed with it. The second match had been comparatively easy. It was like insurance securing their dream. But Tammy and Nick wavered for a good reason.

[Nick Granite]

If we're still matched with Sabrina and the potential child that comes from that, they would have put us with three kids.

[Peter McDonnell]

But they couldn't say no. And Tara Lee knew it. The pleading became more intense. Tara Lee turned up the heat. So Tammy and Nick thought of a way to stall for time to put the burden back on Tara Lee.

[Nick Granite]

They said we need to know the gender.

[Tammy Granite]

This episode is brought to you by Lifelock. During tax season, your personal info travels to a lot of places between payroll, your tax consultant and the IRS. If your W2 gets exposed, that's just the ticket for identity thieves. That's why Lifelock monitors millions of data points every second. If your identity is stolen, they'll fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Don't let identity thieves take you for a ride. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit lifelock.com podcast terms apply. Welcome to the White Lotus in Thailand.

[Peter McDonnell]

It's a wellness center.

[Tammy Granite]

You should get a facial. The lady in the airport thought you were my dad.

[Nick Granite]

My God.

[Peter McDonnell]

The Emmy Award winning HBO original series returns. There has been more crime on the island.

[Tammy Granite]

I'm a little freaked out. What happens in Thailand stays entitled. What does that mean?

[Peter McDonnell]

It means we're not dead yet.

[Tammy Granite]

Amen. Amen. A new season of the HBO original.

[Peter McDonnell]

Series the White Lotus premieres February 16th at 9pm on MAX. Even though Stephanie was due in a few weeks, she said she didn't know the gender of her baby. But that wasn't because she wanted to be surprised. It was because she hadn't had an ultrasound. An ultrasound would tell them a lot. First, it would give a snapshot of the baby's health. Second, it would confirm when Stephanie was probably due, although ultrasounds at a later stage are less accurate. And third, it would reveal the baby's gender. So the next day, the Granites sent Tara Lee money for Stephanie to get her first ultrasound. They told Tara Lee they would strongly consider adopting Stephanie's baby if it was a girl. That might sound harsh, but they were thinking practically they'd been expecting two girls. The nurseries were decorated accordingly, and it looked like Sabrina's match was not going to happen. A few days later, the Granites took a road trip north to visit Tammy's brother and sister in Minneapolis and check out the Minnesota State Fair. It's called the Great Minnesota Get Together. Two million visitors, live bands, farm animals, fireworks, carnival rides, beer, fried everything.

[Nick Granite]

I think we're in the. We're in the alley with, like, all the trinkets, like the vendor emporium, Basically.

[Peter McDonnell]

When Tammy got a text from Tara Lee, it was a video of Stephanie's ultrasound.

[Tammy Granite]

The video has the heartbeat and it has the picture up on the screen of the baby. It's a boy. It's a baby boy.

[Peter McDonnell]

There was a text message, too.

[Tammy Granite]

Did you see your baby? And I remember just kind of tapping Nick with my phone and handing him the phone. Did you see your baby? It didn't feel like we were given a choice.

[Peter McDonnell]

More texts followed about Stephanie.

[Tammy Granite]

She's crying. She wanted it to be a girl. She's so scared you're gonna say no. It's almost this guilt that you feel immediately like you have to take this baby.

[Peter McDonnell]

The fair was in full swing around them.

[Tammy Granite]

I said no. My answer was no. I basically left the decision to him. Nick's feeling was, let's do it.

[Nick Granite]

I gotta be honest. Tyrelli preyed on my bleeding heart at this.

[Tammy Granite]

For this match, most couple wait years. We'd have both at the same time, and we're done. We've already bought two of everything.

[Peter McDonnell]

Nick texted back and forth with Tara Lee. They talked on the phone, and then he told her yes, they'd adopt Stephanie's son. When I met them in Chicago, Nick showed me their adoption contract for Stephanie's baby. It was just a handwritten paragraph in pen, jotted down at an angle on the back page of their contract for Sarah's baby.

[Nick Granite]

So this is Sarah's contract that we've already signed for. Then it says, per verbal conversation on 8, 2718, Nick and Tammy agree to use this signature page to accept contract.

[Peter McDonnell]

Nick signed it at the state fair. Then they went shopping.

[Nick Granite]

We went to Buy Buy Baby and we bought $1,000. $1,000 on baby boy clothes, and it was straight up, no tax.

[Peter McDonnell]

Did you pick out a name?

[Tammy Granite]

Oh, yeah, we did. Atticus.

[Peter McDonnell]

Yeah, Atticus.

[Tammy Granite]

Atticus.

[Peter McDonnell]

When the Granites got back home to Chicago, they had just one week before they needed to drive to Detroit for Sarah and Stephanie's births. They had two nurseries ready to go. They stashed the baby boy clothes in the one that was originally meant for Sabrina's daughter, Avery. But they couldn't forget Sabrina.

[Tammy Granite]

I remember telling people, like, there's this crazy chance that there could be three in the back of your mind, you're like, what if because you're so attached to Sabrina's child that you're thinking, well, if this baby's born and if this baby lives, how could we not take her home? If, of course, she didn't want a parent, of course we're going to say yes.

[Peter McDonnell]

Despite never having met, seen or heard from Sabrina, they knew her story. They'd taken the pencil outlines of her biography and imagined them into vivid, moving images. They'd seen an ultrasound of her baby girl, too, her little body. Who would take care of her? Love her? They wondered if it wasn't Sabrina or Sabrina's parents, it would be them. If you're wondering why the Granites hadn't started deep questioning the veracity of what Tara Lee was telling them, I think it's because they didn't know nearly as much as you do about this story. They didn't know anyone else who was adopting from Tara Lee, and she was controlling the narrative of their adoptions. Tara Lee was a nimble storyteller, able to generate characters, plotlines, motivations and details on the spot. But she didn't count on the granite sticking so hard to Sabrina's baby. And that became a problem for Tara Lee. Sometimes. I noticed she underestimated how attached her clients would get to the babies she promised them. I think she too often saw the matches coldly, transactionally. When Tara Lee couldn't wrestle Nick and Tammy away from Sabrina and replace her with Stephanie, she reacted by saying something inhumane. But on brand in its brutal directness, Sabrina will raise that baby whether it lives or dies. So Nick finished mowing the lawn. Tammy made sure their business was covered for the next month of weddings and events, and the Granites hit the road for Detroit. What they couldn't know is that in a few weeks, the FBI would start secretly investigating Tara Lee for adoption fraud. A case unlike anything they'd seen before. It was also going to uncover something very disturbing about what Tara Lee had done to the Granites. One month later, the couple from our first episode, Teresa and Mike Matheny, started their trip to Detroit. They knew the FBI was investigating. Always Hope. But that was all they knew. Neither couple knew about the other, that they were both expecting to go home with Stephanie's son. When Mike and Teresa were three hours from Detroit, they asked Tara Lee for proof of life. So Teresa reaches out to Tara. Teresa just very gently asks her, like, oh, like, is there, you know, an ultrasound? And Tara ends up sending her ultrasound.

[Tammy Granite]

Oh, she not only does she send me the ultrasound, she follows it up with, yes, the baby is very real. So I'm like, oh my God, it's real. Has her name on there. Her birth mom's name is legit. And then I, I think I sent a picture to my cousin and I'm.

[Nick Granite]

Like, oh my God, look.

[Tammy Granite]

She goes, I don't want to alarm you. She said, but if this due date on this ultrasound is correct, she would be 42 weeks. And Mike literally said, surely she wouldn't have us drive across the country if this wasn't real. Surely she wouldn't do that.

[Peter McDonnell]

Next time on Baby Broker.

[Tammy Granite]

In walks this lady who has jet black hair and is covered in tattoos. She has like, her name brand jeans. She has her nails done.

[Peter McDonnell]

Tammy and Nick discovered their money was wasn't going where it was supposed to.

[Tammy Granite]

We knew we had given this money.

[Peter McDonnell]

And they went looking for Sabrina's baby.

[Nick Granite]

We're thinking that baby's here somewhere.

[Tammy Granite]

I knew the lawyers had to come and so I wrote everything down, every red flag down.

[Peter McDonnell]

Don't want to wait for that next episode. You don't have to unlock all episodes of Baby Broker ad free right now by subscribing to the Binge Podcast channel. Search for the binge on Apple Podcasts and hit subscribe at the top of the page. Not on apple. Head to getthebinge.com to get access wherever you listen. As a subscriber, you'll get binge access to new stories on the 1st of every month. Check out the Binge Channel page on apple podcasts or getthebinge.com to learn more. Baby Broker is an original production of Sony Music Entertainment and Perfect Cadence. It was hosted and reported by me, Peter McDonnell. I'm the executive producer along with Catherine St. Louis and Jonathan Hirsch of Sony Music Entertainment. Stephen George recorded the narration at the Invisible Studios, West Hollywood. We used music from Audio Network and a few tracks from Epidemic Sound. News clips are courtesy of WXYZ 7 in Detroit, Michigan. Our production managers are Tameka Balance Kolasny and Sammy Allison. Our lawyers are Allison Sherry and Kathleen Farley. Special thanks to Steve Ackerman, Emily Rasik and Jamie Myers.

[Tammy Granite]

Work takes up most of your time. That's why you should use stamps.com to save time with your mailing and shipping and have flexibility to focus on more important things. Stamps.com can handle all your mailing and shipping needs with rates up to 88% off USPS and UPS adflix to your day with stamps.com go to stamps.com program to sign up for a special offer. No contract. Cancel Anytime. That's stamps.com program.