MaryBeth Lewis, 69, a Mother of 13 Accused of Forging Her Husband’s Signature to Have Twins Through a Surrogate, Avoided Jail by Pleading Guilty

Thirty criminal counts, nearly three years in court and a pair of twins caught in the middle came down to a single plea in a Steuben County courtroom. MaryBeth Lewis, 69, a mother of 13 from Elma, New York, pleaded guilty and walked out with no jail time.

Lewis was accused of forging her husband’s signature to arrange a surrogacy that produced twins without his knowledge. She received a one-year conditional discharge, FingerLakes1.com reported, and prosecutors dropped the remaining charges.

Thirteen Children and a Plan for More

Lewis and her husband, Bob, already had a very large family. She gave birth for the last time at 62, using donor eggs and donor sperm, according to a summary of The New York Times Magazine’s reporting by The Daily Caller. Her doctor warned that another pregnancy could rupture her uterine scar.

Chip Chick, citing earlier reports, described Lewis as a nurse and Bob as a pilot, and said she had given birth to twins at 59 before her final delivery at 62. The same report said the surrogacy arrangement cost about $160,000.

Lewis told the Times she turned to surrogacy because of that danger to her own life, International Business Times reported. Bob, according to the earlier reporting, did not agree to the plan.

Prosecutors alleged that she signed her husband’s name on the surrogacy documents without his knowledge and then impersonated him at a virtual parentage hearing. The Daily Caller’s summary said she appeared by Zoom, claimed Bob was traveling in Japan and used a separate account for him with the camera off. A judge signed an order giving the couple parental rights. Bob found the order at home and reported what had happened.

From Kidnapping Charges to a Plea

The case turned criminal in late 2023. A 30-count sealed indictment was handed up in Steuben County on Nov. 29, 2023, charging Lewis with crimes including attempted second-degree kidnapping, forgery, tampering with evidence, falsifying business records, perjury and identity theft, WETM reported at the time. She pleaded not guilty, and a stay-away order of protection was issued in favor of the two infants.

For nearly three years she fought the charges. Chip Chick reported in January that she had turned down earlier plea offers and was expected to stand trial in March.

The deal she finally accepted was far narrower than the original indictment. IBTimes reported that she pleaded guilty to three counts of attempting to offer a false instrument for filing in the first degree, which local outlets described as misdemeanors. Along with the conditional discharge, she was ordered to pay $250 in fees and surcharges. Her lawyer argued that she never intended to deceive, defraud or harm her husband and wanted only to establish legal parentage of the babies.

Steuben County District Attorney Brooks Baker said the criminal case and the custody proceedings were separate matters.

Two Toddlers and the Couple Who Raised Them

The twins, a boy and a girl, were born in November 2023 and placed with a foster couple shortly after birth. The egg and sperm donors had waived their parental rights, and the surrogate did not want to raise the children, according to the Daily Caller’s account.

The foster parents, who asked to be identified only as Bri and Allan to protect the children, were already raising two teenagers and had fostered children since 2017, IBTimes reported. They had hoped to adopt the twins.

Custody took its own path. On Oct. 20, 2025, a Family Court judge declared MaryBeth and Bob Lewis the twins’ legal parents. Bob later supported bringing the children into the family. Chip Chick reported in January that the foster parents had appealed that ruling. Family Court records are sealed, and FingerLakes1.com reported that a separate legal dispute over custody remains pending, while officials told People the twins now live with the Lewises, according to IBTimes.

For the foster family, the outcome has been painful. Allan described the handover as excruciating and said he hopes the twins know they were chosen every day. On Oct. 23, about 100 supporters of the foster family gathered outside the courthouse. The couple is exploring ways to reconnect with the children, though no contact arrangement has been reported.

Questions the Case Leaves Behind

The twins are approaching their third birthday. They spent most of their short lives with one foster family and, according to officials cited by People, are now living with another, in a case that began with a signature on a surrogacy contract.

The case has also drawn attention to how parentage orders are granted. The original judge ordered a home study and appointed counsel for the unborn twins before signing the order, the Daily Caller summary said, and that judge later stepped aside after the defense identified procedural flaws. At a hearing reported by Chip Chick, an attorney for the county’s Department of Social Services said crimes cannot simply be committed in connection with the creation of life.

The criminal side is now closed with a misdemeanor plea. The question of where two toddlers belong, and who gets to stay in their lives, is the part that will be felt longest by the children at the center of it.

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: J. Passepartout, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons