A California man at the center of a transatlantic custody battle over twin baby girls was formally charged with sexually molesting two teenage girls.
Mr Richard Allen was accused of groping the girls and exposing himself to one of them while they were babysitting at his home in Highland, north of San Bernadino, California, US authorities said yesterday.
The 49-year-old plumber is being held on a $100,000 bond pending a March 12 hearing, according to a spokeswoman for San Bernadino's district attorney office.
In the wake of the allegations, authorities on Thursday removed Mr Allen's adopted son from the home he shares with his wife Vickie, the San Bernadino Sheriff's Department said. The toddler has been placed in foster care, the department said.
The developments are the latest twists in a bizarre adoption tale centered on two twin baby girls who are now in foster care in Britain.
The girls were briefly placed with the Allens last year, after their biological mother Ms Tranda Wecker put them up for adoption with a web-based baby broker.
But Ms Wecker took them back and turned them over to a British couple, Mr Alan and Mrs Judith Kilshaw in December 2000 - ostensibly because the Allens would not agree to an open adoption.
In January 2001, British authorities got involved and took the girls into care while a British court looks into what is in their best interest.
But now both Ms Wecker and her estranged husband Mr Aaron Wecker say they want the girls returned to them.
AFP