A 41-year-old woman who was supposed to serve the remainder of her prison sentence on fraud charges from her home in Western North Carolina is on the lam, according to state officials.
Wendy George “absconded” from her Asheville home earlier this month, the North Carolina Department of Public Safety said in a March 19 news release. George pleaded guilty in 2018 to charges relating to an elaborate adoption scam and was set to be released Oct. 12, according to local media reports and public safety officials.
She is described as a 5-foot-1-inch white female weighing 208 pounds with black hair and green eyes. Officials said she also has “a mole on her chin” and “tattoos on her left foot and right arm.”
George was allowed to serve her sentence from home under the Extending the Limits of Confinement program.
The ELC program permits individuals who have been convicted of a crime to finish their prison sentences at home or in transitional housing but it is not considered early release, according to DPS.
“Participants are still considered incarcerated and are supervised by probation/ parole officers from Community Corrections,” officials said. “Violating the terms of ELC can result in the offender being returned to a correctional facility.”
An escape warrant has been requested.
George was accused of targeting couples looking to adopt on various websites by pretending she was pregnant and asking for money to cover food, housing and doctor appointments, McClatchy News previously reported.
She reportedly paid a friend who was actually pregnant $20 to get an ultrasound in her name so she could send it to victims and gave a positive pregnancy test to the state to collect Medicaid benefits.
The Carolina Beach Police Department started searching for victims in 2017 after a couple from Ohio called police to report her.
George was convicted on five counts of obtaining property by false pretense, felony violation of social services and accessing a computer to defraud in December 2018. Public safety records show she served the first part of her sentence at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women in Raleigh before she was released for extended home confinement in February.
She had two infractions listed during her time in prison — including one in 2019 pertaining to a “sexual act” and another last summer for allegedly disobeying orders, according to DPS.
Anyone with information about her whereabouts is asked to call local law enforcement.
