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    - Photo via United States Department of Justice -
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Published on Tuesday, August 1, 2023
By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A U.S.
citizen surnamed Strong (37) was
convicted of kidnapping his son in
violation of a parenting plan and
taking him to Costa Rica. He was
sentenced to three years in prison,
followed by one year of supervised
release, U.S. Attorney Jesse
Laslovich said. The man
from the town of Heron in Sanders
County, Montana, had a two-day trial
in March. The jury found him guilty
of international parental
kidnapping. According
to the U.S. Attorney's Office,
District of Montana, the court also
ordered $6,948 in restitution. In
January 2020, Strong and his ex-wife
entered into a parenting plan for
their then two-year-old son as part
of a divorce proceeding, according
to court documents. Before
a court date in August 2021, Strong
failed to return their son to his
mother as scheduled. The
mother could not locate Strong and
contacted the Sanders County
Sheriff’s Office. Law enforcement
was also unable to contact
Strong.
The Sanders County Attorney’s Office subsequently charged Strong with felony parental interference and a state arrest warrant was issued for Strong.
In
September 2021, the FBI opened an
investigation to assist Sanders
County in the search for Strong
and his son. In
January 2022, the FBI discovered
Strong and the child were living
in Costa Rica. They learned that
Strong and his son left the United
States in approximately October
2021, near Midland, Texas. Strong
paid a man to transport them to
Costa Rica. He and the child lived
with the man for about six
weeks. In
May 2022, the FBI received
specific information about
Strong’s whereabouts, and Costa
Rica officials arrested and
deported him back to the United
States. The
child’s mother traveled to Costa
Rica to take custody of her son
and returned with him to the
United States. Assistant
U.S. Attorneys Timothy J. Racicot
and Brian C. Lowney prosecuted the
case. The FBI conducted the
investigation.
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