MELVILLE, N.Y. -- Ann and Chris Young of Calverton, N.Y., planned to adopt a second child through an adoption agency Web site. They already had a boy, Christopher, and said they wanted to adopt a sibling to complete their family.

What they didn't know was the man operating the agency was swindling them -- and many other families -- out of thousands of dollars in fees, according to Santa Barbara County, Calif., prosecutors.

Orson Mozes, 57, is set to face charges Tuesday for scamming 62 prospective families out of more than $1 million in fees, according to the Santa Barbara district attorney's office. He was extradited there Thursday from Florida, where the Miami-Dade Police Department arrested him Dec. 29. He is facing 62 felony counts of theft by false pretenses and is being held on $1 million bail.

Mozes operated Adoption International Program, a Web site where families could search through photos of children that were available for adoption from Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Russia. Then, for a fee, the selected child would be put on hold, ultimately making the families believe the child was theirs, the Youngs said.

"Everything seemed to be professional,'' Ann Young said. "He said he would hold the child for us if we sent him an agency fee. He led us to believe this was how adoption works.''

When the Youngs thought they found their ideal Kazakh child from Mozes' Web site, they mailed him the fee of $12,500.

But after a few months, the Youngs came across a blog written by another family in the process of adopting a child in Kazakhstan. They posted a picture identical to the child the Youngs believed they were getting. Then, Ann received a phone call from Mozes, explaining that the child was no longer available.

"That was the most heartbreaking part,'' Ann Young said. "For six months we thought the child was going to be ours. He would tell different families they were getting the same child.''

Mozes guaranteed two more kids to the Youngs; again, both were made unavailable. It was during their trip to Kazakhstan to meet their fourth prospective child that they found Leah, a 15-month-old girl who was rejected by three other families who were also clients of Mozes. "It was by the grace of God that we found Leah,'' Ann Young said.

The Youngs caught on to what they said Mozes was doing and started contacting other families working through the agency.

"He would bait you and then switch children,'' Ann Young said. "And there was no way to check on it.''

MELVILLE, N.Y. -- Ann and Chris Young of Calverton, N.Y., planned to adopt a second child through an adoption agency Web site. They already had a boy, Christopher, and said they wanted to adopt a sibling to complete their family.

What they didn't know was the man operating the agency was swindling them -- and many other families -- out of thousands of dollars in fees, according to Santa Barbara County, Calif., prosecutors.

Orson Mozes, 57, is set to face charges Tuesday for scamming 62 prospective families out of more than $1 million in fees, according to the Santa Barbara district attorney's office. He was extradited there Thursday from Florida, where the Miami-Dade Police Department arrested him Dec. 29. He is facing 62 felony counts of theft by false pretenses and is being held on $1 million bail.

Mozes operated Adoption International Program, a Web site where families could search through photos of children that were available for adoption from Kazakhstan, Ukraine and Russia. Then, for a fee, the selected child would be put on hold, ultimately making the families believe the child was theirs, the Youngs said.

"Everything seemed to be professional,'' Ann Young said. "He said he would hold the child for us if we sent him an agency fee. He led us to believe this was how adoption works.''

When the Youngs thought they found their ideal Kazakh child from Mozes' Web site, they mailed him the fee of $12,500.

But after a few months, the Youngs came across a blog written by another family in the process of adopting a child in Kazakhstan. They posted a picture identical to the child the Youngs believed they were getting. Then, Ann received a phone call from Mozes, explaining that the child was no longer available.

"That was the most heartbreaking part,'' Ann Young said. "For six months we thought the child was going to be ours. He would tell different families they were getting the same child.''

Mozes guaranteed two more kids to the Youngs; again, both were made unavailable. It was during their trip to Kazakhstan to meet their fourth prospective child that they found Leah, a 15-month-old girl who was rejected by three other families who were also clients of Mozes. "It was by the grace of God that we found Leah,'' Ann Young said.

The Youngs caught on to what they said Mozes was doing and started contacting other families working through the agency.

"He would bait you and then switch children,'' Ann Young said. "And there was no way to check on it.''