The biological mother of Betty Loren-Maltese’s adopted 5-year-old daughter said Thursday she wants to regain custody of the child because of allegations this week by federal prosecutors that the former Cicero town president has spent almost 1,700 hours gambling in the last three years.
Dawn Weleba, 26, said she was reluctant to go through with the adoption, but her husband, Loren-Maltese and another Cicero town official all pressured her to go through with it. Weleba said Loren-Maltese promised her she would have regular contact with the child, a promise Weleba says was not fulfilled.
But Loren-Maltese’s attorney, Terence Gillespie, said Weleba gave the child up for adoption “freely” and has never requested contact with the girl.
Information on Loren-Maltese’s gambling habits became public when prosecutors filed a memorandum in response to filings by Gillespie that asked that Loren-Maltese get less than the maximum sentence in her August conviction.
Weleba said one of her two older children, Samantha, 11, saw a television news report about Ashleigh and Loren-Maltese’s gambling, and her years of doubts about the adoption spurred her to act.
“What has me so upset is that she’s willing to go so far as to use this innocent child to escape her wrongdoing,” Weleba said.
