MaryBeth Lewis, a 62-year-old mother with 13 children, is facing accusations of orchestrating a fraudulent scheme to expand her family without her husband’s knowledge. She has been charged with 30 criminal offenses for allegedly forging her husband’s signature and pretending to be him during a virtual court session to secretly plan for two additional children through surrogacy. Despite pleading not guilty to the charges, MaryBeth has confessed to the deception in a recent interview, expressing frustration over the legal repercussions.
The nurse, who welcomed her first five daughters in their 30s and later gave birth to twin girls just before turning 50, continued to grow her family over the years. By the time she was 55, she had 10 children and sought to have more. Running out of their own embryos, MaryBeth and her husband resorted to purchasing donor sperm and eggs to conceive additional children. They utilized donor embryos to welcome their 11th and 12th child at the age of 59, followed by their youngest child born via IVF when MaryBeth was 62, despite medical warnings about the risks involved.
MaryBeth’s deceptive actions began when she allegedly manipulated an IVF clinic into implanting a surrogate with embryos created using donor eggs and sperm without her husband’s consent. She went as far as impersonating her husband during a court hearing, creating a fake Zoom account under his name and providing false information to proceed with the surrogacy plan. Her husband, Bob, discovered the scheme only after receiving legal documents related to the surrogacy, sparking a police investigation and ongoing legal proceedings.
The couple’s 14th and 15th children were born in November 2023, but due to the controversy surrounding the surrogacy fraud, the newborn twins were placed in foster care with another family. After court hearings, the Lewises were granted legal parenthood of the twins; however, they are still fighting to regain custody of their son and daughter, currently in the care of their foster family.
This incident is not the first time MaryBeth has been accused of blindsiding her husband. Allegations suggest that she concealed the implantation of an embryo from the same batch used for the surrogate’s babies when conceiving their 13th child through IVF. MaryBeth maintains her innocence and is scheduled to appear in court on November 7 to address the charges.