Spanish Nun Maria Gomez Valbuena Charged In Baby-Stealing Operation

Spanish nun Maria Gomez Valbuena (C) leaves a court in Madrid on April 12, 2012, after refusing to testify before the judge for her alleged involvement in a case of stolen children. (PEDRO ARMESTRE/AFP/Getty Images)

MADRID -- An 80-year-old Spanish nun has refused to testify at a court hearing about her alleged involvement in the stealing of newborn babies from their parents and selling them to other families.

Spanish police have investigated hundreds of cases amid allegations of baby trafficking dating from the years after Spain's 1936-39 civil war and supposedly a few even in the mid-1990s.

Authorities were alerted by an association of people searching for lost relatives. The group alleges the scheme involved a nationwide network, including doctors, nurses, midwives, nuns and intermediaries. Mothers were told their babies had been stillborn.

Sister Maria Gomez is the only person subpoenaed so far. She appeared in court Thursday and told the judge she would exercise her right to remain silent.

Reuters reports that Sister Maria Gomez is charged with "illegal detention and falsifying documents."

According to Newser, one mother of a stolen infant alleges that Sister Maria Gomez also threatened to steal her other child.

"Stop asking me [where the baby is] or else I will also take away your other daughter and you will go to jail for adultery," the mother claims Sister Maria Gomez said.

The BBC explains that thousands of babies are thought to have been stolen under Francisco Franco's dictatorship with the aim of removing children from their "undesirable" left-wing parents and placing them under the care of "approved" right-wing families.

Also on HuffPost:

Comments

[ThinkCreeps]

11:53 AM on 04/27/2012

I imagine she's looking forward to some protective custody, as I'm sure there are plenty of people who would happily mete out some old-fashioned religious-style justice to her.

[ThinkCreeps]

11:51 AM on 04/27/2012

I'm sure this case will lead to a satisfyingly long sentence,
now that Spain is finally recovering from its weird supplication to organized crime/religion.

[peter010908]

09:23 PM on 04/18/2012

She was only doing God's work.

[Dan Dolan]

05:00 PM on 04/18/2012

This is what will happen if we continue to let republicans into power!

[ThinkCreeps]

11:51 AM on 04/27/2012

Although in Spain, it appears to have been Nationalists that were the problem.

[kristysgodmother]

12:54 PM on 04/18/2012

Sounds like something our "right wing" would do.

[doraemonpepsi]

10:31 AM on 04/18/2012

People, why is this surprising anyway? are nuns suppose to be good people?

[evolvedtg]

09:54 PM on 04/16/2012

But DON'T MAKE US INCLUDE CONTRACEPTIVES ON OUR ALLOWED PRESCRIPTIONS LISTS, DAMMIT!!! 'Cause it's against the morals of our religion. Amen.

[LMPE]

06:55 PM on 04/16/2012

Boy, aren't religious institutions great?

[abuckley23]

01:48 PM on 04/16/2012

Oh those nuns and their baby stealing operations. Cheeky is what they are!

[IGottaBMe]

08:01 AM on 04/16/2012

So what was the nun doing with the money? Sounds like she thought she was God by "righting" all the lefts in the world.

[Grada3784]

09:47 PM on 04/18/2012

Up into the 1950's, even lefthandedness was still frowned upon; I caught the tail end of it and still get confused as to which hand to use. They were always pushing the right.

[ttsgw]

06:08 AM on 04/16/2012

If guilty, I do hope she will spend the rest of her life in prison for her crime against humanity. And I do hope her superiors, bishops, cardinals, popes, deities, etc. will do the same.

[IGottaBMe]

08:02 AM on 04/16/2012

Yes, someone in her organization had to have known what she was doing. This nun has support near her.

[ritamary]

04:36 PM on 04/18/2012

The Catholic Church was complicit with Franco.

[Scarlet Jinn]

05:04 AM on 04/16/2012

"The BBC explains that thousands of babies are thought to have been stolen under Francisco Franco's dictatorship with the aim of removing children from their "undesirable" left-wing parents and placing them under the care of "approved" right-wing families."

Does this remind you of any group here in the US?

[kristysgodmother]

12:54 PM on 04/18/2012

Yup!

[usacookie]

12:52 AM on 04/16/2012

Looks like we've been out of the loop. BBC Documentary Spain's Stolen babies October 25, 2011 on You Tube four parts.

[usacookie]

10:57 PM on 04/15/2012

First there is the article, and then there are two back to back videos; the later stating some 300,000 babies were stolen and moved to on to 'adoptive' parents. This isn't the deed of one nun, or several nuns. "Authorities were alerted by an association of people searching for lost relatives. The group alleges the scheme involved a nationwide network, including doctors, nurses, midwives, nuns and intermediaries."

[dzj1]

10:56 PM on 04/15/2012

so the SINS of Roman Catholic church don't side with only hierarchy but with some of the nuns...hope they find most of the kids and let them know the truth so that they may understand their own ancestry and meet their lost family....only a twisted conservative would do this, ya know..