An artificial insemination clinic giving you the wrong sperm is bad -- your cousin giving you the wrong sperm on purpose is worse.
That's what one couple in Utah -- named Paula and Jeff -- found recently when they tested their DNA from their artificial insemination in 1992. It turns out that their daughter Ashley isn't Jeff's real baby at all. The clinic allegedly switched Jeff's sperm with Ashley's cousin, KUTV-TV reported.
It may sound like a bad accident, but Ashley's cousin may have done the deed himself so he could have children of his own.
Back in the 1990s, Paula and Jeff went to Reproductive Medical Technologies, a clinic in Midvale associated with the University of Utah, for artificial insemination.
She eventually got pregnant with Ashley -- with what she thought was Jeff's sperm. Unbeknownst to her, the semen actually belonged to her cousin, Thomas R. Lippert, a part-time employee who worked at the front desk and in the lab.
Paula said she and her cousin weren't very close. She recently discovered he was the father of Ashley. Now she alleges that Lippert made the switch on purpose, and there may be other victims.
"He seemed friendly and was very proud of all those pictures. [It] almost seemed like a brag board up there, those were the children that he had helped people have," she told the station.
Lippert died in 1999, and, as a result, there is no immediate way to find out whether the sperm sample switch was committed more than once, Yahoo! News Australia reported.
However, genealogist CeCe Moore suspects that he may have made unwanted sperm donations to other unsuspecting parents.
She created a website called Was Your Child Fathered by Thomas Lippert? to help other families who suspect their children may have been fathered during his time at the clinic.
Lippert's past indiscretions go beyond sneaky sperm swapping.
Before working at the clinic, he served two years in prison for kidnapping a college co-ed for three weeks and using electroshock therapy on her to make her "fall in love with him," KUTV reported.
The allegations don't surprise Lippert's widow, Jean Lippert, who lives in Salt Lake City.
"I think, because Tom didn’t have any kids, he wanted to have a lot of kids out there," she told the Salt Lake City Tribune. She was aware he was a frequent sperm donor and believes "maybe he switched some samples so he could have more of his kids in the world."
The University of Utah released a statement that it has been investigating the allegations since last April. It has also offered to alleviate the distress of RTMI clients who were treated between 1988 through 1994 by offering professional genetic testing.
That's what one couple in Utah -- named Paula and Jeff -- found recently when they tested their DNA from their artificial insemination in 1992. It turns out that their daughter Ashley isn't Jeff's real baby at all. The clinic allegedly switched Jeff's sperm with Ashley's cousin, KUTV-TV reported.
It may sound like a bad accident, but Ashley's cousin may have done the deed himself so he could have children of his own.
Back in the 1990s, Paula and Jeff went to Reproductive Medical Technologies, a clinic in Midvale associated with the University of Utah, for artificial insemination.
She eventually got pregnant with Ashley -- with what she thought was Jeff's sperm. Unbeknownst to her, the semen actually belonged to her cousin, Thomas R. Lippert, a part-time employee who worked at the front desk and in the lab.
Paula said she and her cousin weren't very close. She recently discovered he was the father of Ashley. Now she alleges that Lippert made the switch on purpose, and there may be other victims.
"He seemed friendly and was very proud of all those pictures. [It] almost seemed like a brag board up there, those were the children that he had helped people have," she told the station.
Lippert died in 1999, and, as a result, there is no immediate way to find out whether the sperm sample switch was committed more than once, Yahoo! News Australia reported.
However, genealogist CeCe Moore suspects that he may have made unwanted sperm donations to other unsuspecting parents.
She created a website called Was Your Child Fathered by Thomas Lippert? to help other families who suspect their children may have been fathered during his time at the clinic.
Lippert's past indiscretions go beyond sneaky sperm swapping.
Before working at the clinic, he served two years in prison for kidnapping a college co-ed for three weeks and using electroshock therapy on her to make her "fall in love with him," KUTV reported.
The allegations don't surprise Lippert's widow, Jean Lippert, who lives in Salt Lake City.
"I think, because Tom didn’t have any kids, he wanted to have a lot of kids out there," she told the Salt Lake City Tribune. She was aware he was a frequent sperm donor and believes "maybe he switched some samples so he could have more of his kids in the world."
The University of Utah released a statement that it has been investigating the allegations since last April. It has also offered to alleviate the distress of RTMI clients who were treated between 1988 through 1994 by offering professional genetic testing.
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