Post by ADH7901 on Nov 10, 2003 17:39:10 GMT -5
...just arrested by FBI! 
OMG! I might have to testify in court because she told me her side of the story and I might have to do a character witness! Oh wow..I'm so confused now as to who is guilty now...I don't know who to believe! Here is an article on it...edited to remove names and places...but wow, she seemed so nice and always talked about how much she loved her kids, that is all she talked about in sociology class, and now they were taken away from her...its sad! She told me all these things like the children were undergoing therapy still and stuff...and that she had been fleeing from her husband from state to state a lot, and that he had friends in high places and stuff and...well...I'll just let you all read the article...
-----
Two children were taken from ----------- Elementary School on Wednesday afternoon and placed into protective custody after authorities learned they allegedly had been abducted from Nebraska by their mother in April 2002.
The mother, a --------- school district employee, remained in federal custody in Minnesota on Friday in connection with a criminal count of international parental kidnapping, according to the Minneapolis FBI.
The arrest of -------------, 32, opened a door she had slammed shut for years, first through allegations and restraining orders against the father of her children, and later by fleeing to Canada, according to officials.
She had been on the run to Canada and three states, authorities said. Now her kids were on their way back to their father, --------------, a man they had been told was a monster.
[the father] got the news his children had been found and, along with his mother and wife, made a fast road trip from Omaha to ---------- late Wednesday. He hadn't seen his 10 year-old son or 9-year-old daughter outside of a courtroom for years.
It wasn't clear on Friday who connected [the mother] and the kids to a "family abduction" poster created by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Someone told the --------- school district that one of its employees was wanted. The district immediately notified ---------- police, said investigator ------------.
[the son] and [the daughter] were called to the principal's office at ---------- Elementary Wednesday afternoon. Police arrived just before [the mother] drove up at about 4 p.m. It appeared she knew her flight was over, [the investigator] said.
"She was highly emotional," he said. "It was obviously her worst nightmare."
[the mother] and her kids were put in the back of a ---------- County sheriff's squad car and driven to the law enforcement center parking lot in -----------, he said.
The kids said goodbye to their mother in the car.
Later they were taken to a foster home overnight to prepare for Thursday's tumultuous reunion.
"These children had been taught to hate their father, and they didn't want to go with him," [the investigator] said. While they waited in [the investigator]'s office to meet their father on Thursday, [the son] and [the daughter] used colored pencils to draw a picture of themselves with their mother.
Before [the investigator] took them to meet [the father], they gave the picture to the officer and asked him to give it to their mother. -------- got the picture when the Minneapolis FBI picked her up for a court appearance on Thursday.
When it was time for the kids to reunite with their father, "we took it real slow," [the investigator] said.
"I told them that their father loved them and that they would be safe with him," said [the investigator] , who noted that Nebraska authorities assured him [the mother]'s accusations against [the father] regarding abuse of the kids were false.
The [last name] children entered the room clutching stuffed animals that police had given them. For the first half hour, they just cried, [the investigator] said. Two and one-half hours later, they were sitting with their father and talking to him.
[the father] said the kids appeared somewhat angry initially.
"I didn't blame them," [the father] said. Eventually they began to warm up. They wanted to know about the home in Omaha, with the two dogs, the fenced yard and what kind of video games were available. [the son] asked his father about his favorite football and basketball teams. They all agreed to pick up Smokey the hamster from mom's house before going back to Nebraska.
"Dad was a champ," [the investigator] said. "He really gave them the time they needed."
----------- police are investigating the case, [the investigator] said. They still need to answer several questions, including whether [the mother] used fake documents to apply for a job with the school and whether anyone who is required to notify authorities of abuse or dangerous situations for children failed to report that the [last name] children had been abducted.
The school district has cooperated 100 percent, [the investigator] said.
Superintendent ------------- said that if anyone at the school had earlier knowledge of the family's situation, they would have had to report it.
"I don't think anyone who would have known it was a kidnapping would have kept it secret," she said Friday. She added that the school psychologist was talking with kids and staff as needed about the sudden departure of their classmates.
[the mother] was hired as a school aide in the Stillwater Area Learning Center during the last school year, [the superintendent] said. The district ran a criminal background check and found nothing.
The federal criminal charges and arrest warrant weren't issued until the summer, the FBI said.
[the father] credits his current wife, ---------, with pushing authorities to issue the warrant. Authorities often listen to moms more than dads in these cases, he said.
"I'm hoping maybe this story will help some dads out," he added.
After his marriage to [the mother] ended, [the father] said he gave her full custody and reserved only visitation. Their civil agreement eventually soured.
When [the son] was almost 3 years old, [the mother] accused him of abusing their son. [the father] denied it and underwent a lie detector test and counseling visits to disprove the allegations.
The dispute split [the mother]'s family and leaves bitterness even years later.
[the mother's father], who often harbored his youngest daughter and her children, as recently as Friday railed against the Nebraska court system.
"She is a super good mother. She'd rather feed them than eat herself," he said by phone from -------------.
[the mother] will appear in U.S. District Court in St. Paul on Wednesday for a removal and detention hearing, an FBI spokesman said.
As authorities stitch together the story, [the father] is building the family he barely dared to hope he could have.
He won't criticize his ex-wife.
"I won't say anything negative about her. I know she does love her kids. She just went about showing them wrong," [the father] said. During the years of restraining orders, he sometimes only spoke with his kids on the phone.
"They would tell me they hated me," he said.
[the father] said he has matured a great deal in the last several years, including quitting drinking. He works a day job at one restaurant and a night job running the kitchen of another. He and his wife are trying to have a baby.
On the trip home with [the son] and [the daughter] on Thursday, [the father] got a sign that anything's possible.
The family stopped at a rest area in Minnesota, and [the son] wound up sitting in the GMC Jimmy alone. [the father] approached the vehicle and looked up to see the son he recognized mostly from court hearings.
[the son] smiled and waved at him.
"That was worth everything. Nothing can describe having your son, after seven years, give you a smile and a wave," [the father] said. "Fathers deserve as much of a chance as mothers do to be a part of their kids' lives."
Thursday night the new dad peeked through their bedroom door three times just to make sure they were there. He checked again Friday morning. He's hopeful now.
"Maybe one day it will be a hug. Maybe one day it will be an "I love you.' Maybe one day it will be 'Dad' instead of [the father's name]. And each milestone will be a notch in my heart that is filled."
OMG! I might have to testify in court because she told me her side of the story and I might have to do a character witness! Oh wow..I'm so confused now as to who is guilty now...I don't know who to believe! Here is an article on it...edited to remove names and places...but wow, she seemed so nice and always talked about how much she loved her kids, that is all she talked about in sociology class, and now they were taken away from her...its sad! She told me all these things like the children were undergoing therapy still and stuff...and that she had been fleeing from her husband from state to state a lot, and that he had friends in high places and stuff and...well...I'll just let you all read the article...-----
Two children were taken from ----------- Elementary School on Wednesday afternoon and placed into protective custody after authorities learned they allegedly had been abducted from Nebraska by their mother in April 2002.
The mother, a --------- school district employee, remained in federal custody in Minnesota on Friday in connection with a criminal count of international parental kidnapping, according to the Minneapolis FBI.
The arrest of -------------, 32, opened a door she had slammed shut for years, first through allegations and restraining orders against the father of her children, and later by fleeing to Canada, according to officials.
She had been on the run to Canada and three states, authorities said. Now her kids were on their way back to their father, --------------, a man they had been told was a monster.
[the father] got the news his children had been found and, along with his mother and wife, made a fast road trip from Omaha to ---------- late Wednesday. He hadn't seen his 10 year-old son or 9-year-old daughter outside of a courtroom for years.
It wasn't clear on Friday who connected [the mother] and the kids to a "family abduction" poster created by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Someone told the --------- school district that one of its employees was wanted. The district immediately notified ---------- police, said investigator ------------.
[the son] and [the daughter] were called to the principal's office at ---------- Elementary Wednesday afternoon. Police arrived just before [the mother] drove up at about 4 p.m. It appeared she knew her flight was over, [the investigator] said.
"She was highly emotional," he said. "It was obviously her worst nightmare."
[the mother] and her kids were put in the back of a ---------- County sheriff's squad car and driven to the law enforcement center parking lot in -----------, he said.
The kids said goodbye to their mother in the car.
Later they were taken to a foster home overnight to prepare for Thursday's tumultuous reunion.
"These children had been taught to hate their father, and they didn't want to go with him," [the investigator] said. While they waited in [the investigator]'s office to meet their father on Thursday, [the son] and [the daughter] used colored pencils to draw a picture of themselves with their mother.
Before [the investigator] took them to meet [the father], they gave the picture to the officer and asked him to give it to their mother. -------- got the picture when the Minneapolis FBI picked her up for a court appearance on Thursday.
When it was time for the kids to reunite with their father, "we took it real slow," [the investigator] said.
"I told them that their father loved them and that they would be safe with him," said [the investigator] , who noted that Nebraska authorities assured him [the mother]'s accusations against [the father] regarding abuse of the kids were false.
The [last name] children entered the room clutching stuffed animals that police had given them. For the first half hour, they just cried, [the investigator] said. Two and one-half hours later, they were sitting with their father and talking to him.
[the father] said the kids appeared somewhat angry initially.
"I didn't blame them," [the father] said. Eventually they began to warm up. They wanted to know about the home in Omaha, with the two dogs, the fenced yard and what kind of video games were available. [the son] asked his father about his favorite football and basketball teams. They all agreed to pick up Smokey the hamster from mom's house before going back to Nebraska.
"Dad was a champ," [the investigator] said. "He really gave them the time they needed."
----------- police are investigating the case, [the investigator] said. They still need to answer several questions, including whether [the mother] used fake documents to apply for a job with the school and whether anyone who is required to notify authorities of abuse or dangerous situations for children failed to report that the [last name] children had been abducted.
The school district has cooperated 100 percent, [the investigator] said.
Superintendent ------------- said that if anyone at the school had earlier knowledge of the family's situation, they would have had to report it.
"I don't think anyone who would have known it was a kidnapping would have kept it secret," she said Friday. She added that the school psychologist was talking with kids and staff as needed about the sudden departure of their classmates.
[the mother] was hired as a school aide in the Stillwater Area Learning Center during the last school year, [the superintendent] said. The district ran a criminal background check and found nothing.
The federal criminal charges and arrest warrant weren't issued until the summer, the FBI said.
[the father] credits his current wife, ---------, with pushing authorities to issue the warrant. Authorities often listen to moms more than dads in these cases, he said.
"I'm hoping maybe this story will help some dads out," he added.
After his marriage to [the mother] ended, [the father] said he gave her full custody and reserved only visitation. Their civil agreement eventually soured.
When [the son] was almost 3 years old, [the mother] accused him of abusing their son. [the father] denied it and underwent a lie detector test and counseling visits to disprove the allegations.
The dispute split [the mother]'s family and leaves bitterness even years later.
[the mother's father], who often harbored his youngest daughter and her children, as recently as Friday railed against the Nebraska court system.
"She is a super good mother. She'd rather feed them than eat herself," he said by phone from -------------.
[the mother] will appear in U.S. District Court in St. Paul on Wednesday for a removal and detention hearing, an FBI spokesman said.
As authorities stitch together the story, [the father] is building the family he barely dared to hope he could have.
He won't criticize his ex-wife.
"I won't say anything negative about her. I know she does love her kids. She just went about showing them wrong," [the father] said. During the years of restraining orders, he sometimes only spoke with his kids on the phone.
"They would tell me they hated me," he said.
[the father] said he has matured a great deal in the last several years, including quitting drinking. He works a day job at one restaurant and a night job running the kitchen of another. He and his wife are trying to have a baby.
On the trip home with [the son] and [the daughter] on Thursday, [the father] got a sign that anything's possible.
The family stopped at a rest area in Minnesota, and [the son] wound up sitting in the GMC Jimmy alone. [the father] approached the vehicle and looked up to see the son he recognized mostly from court hearings.
[the son] smiled and waved at him.
"That was worth everything. Nothing can describe having your son, after seven years, give you a smile and a wave," [the father] said. "Fathers deserve as much of a chance as mothers do to be a part of their kids' lives."
Thursday night the new dad peeked through their bedroom door three times just to make sure they were there. He checked again Friday morning. He's hopeful now.
"Maybe one day it will be a hug. Maybe one day it will be an "I love you.' Maybe one day it will be 'Dad' instead of [the father's name]. And each milestone will be a notch in my heart that is filled."
