A father in Greenville, South Carolina was in federal court last week after his arrest in Phuket, Thailand, according to NBC Greenville. The man, Samuel Lee Horton, pleaded guilty to violating a child custody order for his 3-year-old daughter.
Samuel Horton was charged by the Greenville County Sheriff's Office on May 5, 2009 after he had taken his daughter across international boundaries to Thailand. He also was indicted on fraud charges for procuring a falsified passport for the child.
He pleaded guilty in federal court.
It doesn't take the advice of a Georgia family law attorney to know that abducting your own child and taking her to another country in violation of a court order is a serious offense.
Cindy Horton, the child's mother, has custody of the child and Samuel Horton was granted visitation. But during a visitation period in which he claimed he was taking his daughter to Disney World in Florida, he instead took her on a plane to Southeast Asia.
He admitted to having forged his ex-wife's signature to secure the passport for his daughter. Janis Richardson Hall, Cindy Horton's attorney, said the girl was told her mother was dead for the past year:
"I guess when the daughter saw the mom, she thought she saw a ghost. It was very sad. Very heartbreaking."
Attorney Scott Robinson, counsel for Samuel Horton, apologized on behalf of his client for "the way it all came about." Assistant US Attorney David Stephens pointed out that parents who abduct their children eventually get caught, saying, "We do a damn good job."
Samuel Horton's parental rights have been terminated and it's not clear whether or not he'll even have limited visitation with his daughter. He faces up to 10 years in prison for falsifying a document to get a passport but has yet to be charged in state court for violating his custody order.
Related Resources:
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Find an Atlanta Family Law Attorney (FindLaw)
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International Parental Abduction: Laws and Tips (FindLaw's Law & Daily Life Blog)
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