A woman facing trial on adoption fraud charges preyed on the vulnerability of couples desperate to have a baby of their own, a federal prosecutor says.

"It's a heartbreaking case," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Claire M. Fay.

Joella Kern, 36, has been indicted on 24 counts of wire fraud in Oregon and Washington state, and faces trials in April in U.S. District Court in Portland and in Yakima, Wash.

Federal investigators said that between December 2001 and December 2002, Kern used the Internet to promise couples she would either locate surrogate mothers for them or act as a surrogate mother herself.

But when it was time for the couples to receive their babies, Kern became elusive, often telling them she had been diagnosed with cancer, or that her mother had died, and that she needed to take a break from the adoption process.

"She has taken advantage of people who are the most vulnerable, people who want a child so badly they are willing to sacrifice anything," May said of Kern. "Unfortunately, in this case, they were tricked."

The financial loss from Kern's schemes totals about $45,000, said John Kirkwood, resident agent in charge for the U.S. Secret Service office in Spokane, Wash.

One couple, Sheree and David Compton, flew from Tickfaw, La., to Portland in February 2002, carrying a suitcase packed with two sets of new clothes for babies they had long dreamed of having.

For months, they had negotiated with Kern, who lived in Washington and then Oregon and had promised to link them with a surrogate mother for $500. The Comptons were thrilled when Kern told them the birth mother was expecting twins.

The couple were desperate to have children after a failed in vitro fertilization process emotionally devastated them. Sheree picked out names -- Austin and Avery -- and spent several hundred dollars buying tiny jumpsuits and matching socks.

Before the couple left for Oregon, Sheree Compton made one more call to Kern:

"Please tell me this is real," she told Kern. "Please. I have already been hurt. I don't want to come to Oregon if this is not going to happen."

But after a week of waiting at a Portland hotel for Kern to bring them Austin and Avery, the Comptons returned to Tickfaw empty-handed and heartbroken.

Authorities said Kern was living in eastern Washington when some of the fraud took place. She later moved to the town of Joseph in Oregon and opened a bar called The Cowboy Bar and Gold Room, according to court documents.

Several attempts to reach Kern by phone and e-mail addresses listed in court documents were unsuccessful.

Her attorney, Stephen Sady, an assistant federal public defender, said he did not want to comment on the case before trial.

"I don't think it's appropriate at this time to provide any comment, other than without the other side of the story you don't know what really happened," he said.

But Kirkwood, the Secret Service agent in Spokane who led the investigation, said the worst part of the scam was the emotional toll it took on victims.

"The pain they endured as a result of the promises that were made is one of the strong parts of the case," Kirkwood said.