Five months after arrest, "quints" fraud suspects haven't been prosecuted

BEAUFORT -- Saturday marked the fifth month in jail for the Lady's Island couple who claimed to be pregnant with quintuplets to allegedly scam the community out of more than $1,000 in money and goods.

The well-publicized criminal case appeared open-and-shut -- investigators with the Beaufort County Sheriff's Office got the "mother" in the scheme, Erika Nieves-Abrigo, aka Nancy Cantu, to have an ultrasound in January, revealing she was not pregnant-- but the South Carolina Attorney General's office won't confirm it will prosecute.

In February, spokesman Mark Plowden said the case was "under review to determine, what, if any, prosecutorial action is warranted," a position he reiterated Thursday.

The couple claimed to be pregnant with quintuplets in December and received gifts and donations as their story spread, according to police.

Plowden said verifying the age of Juan Salvador Solis, the "father" in the case, has been a key holdup. The parties were in court two weeks ago because Solis' side wants him treated as a minor and his case moved to family court.

"Problem is, you can't move someone who is potentially an adult into a youth prison without knowing that as a fact," Plowden said. "Where we are now, we have now approached the Mexican government in an attempt to determine what his true age is."

Before his arrest, Solis said he was 24.

Beaufort County Detention Center logs put his age at 22 at the time of his arrest.

Hardeeville lawyer Tom Johnson, whose firm is representing Solis in an unrelated personal injury case, said medical documents the firm is using say he was born in April 1991, making him 16 when he was arrested.

Plowden said "twists and turns" like this make it tough to pin an expected timeline to cases.

"Just because a case is here, you can't turn around and prosecute next week. You've got to make sure defendants are properly charged before we get to court," he said. "We have never, and will never, guess how quickly a case will move."

The Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency also was tapped in the case to determine Solis and Nieves-Abrigo's immigration status, though their involvement usually comes after local charges are adjudicated, officials have said.

In a Jan. 11 interview, Nieves-Abrigo said in Spanish she was in the country legally, though Solis was not.

Solis and Nieves-Abrigo, both of 45 Youmans Drive, are charged with obtaining goods under false pretenses and face up to five years in prison if convicted. Immigration officials' involvement in the case bars the couple from getting out on bond.

Nieves-Abrigo is also wanted in Florida, where she is accused of unlawfully collecting $2,375 worth of welfare benefits from 1999 to 2000. She was ineligible because she was simultaneously collecting welfare benefits from Georgia, officials said.

Criminal prosecution duties in Beaufort, Jasper and Hampton counties ordinarily fall to the office of Duffie Stone, solicitor for the 14th Judicial Circuit. Stone handed the case off to the attorney general's office in February because of a potential conflict of interest stemming from Solis' personal injury case; his lawyer in that case is a part-time solicitor.