Mom faces charges in California, Hawai‘i By Paul C. Curtis – The Garden Island A boy believed to have been abducted by his mother in Lihu‘e near the end of 2003 has been reunited with his father in California, after
Mom faces charges in California, Hawai‘i
By Paul C. Curtis – The Garden Island
A boy believed to have been abducted by his mother in Lihu‘e near the end of 2003 has been reunited with his father in California, after the mother was arrested there on charges of custodial interference, officials said.
According to Kaua‘i Police Department Detective Eric Shibuya, Rhianna Powers, her boyfriend, and Jacob Goldschmidt, 7, were all taken into custody last week near the Oregon-California border.
Goldschmidt’s father, Kaua‘i resident David Goldschmidt, has flown to California and been reunited with his son, who was apparently taken by the mother in a childcustody dispute, according to David Goldschmidt’s Kaua‘i attorney, Caren Dennemeyer.
Dennemeyer refrained from further comment until she could speak to her client, she said yesterday.
“One parent got fed up with the (state custodial) system, took the kid and disappeared,” Shibuya said.
California Highway Patrol officers, acting on a tip from neighbors in Hornbrook, Calif., recovered Jacob Goldschmidt and arrested his mother last Thursday. The boy was found in good health, according to a California Highway Patrol spokesperson.
Powers was expected to appear before a magistrate in California, and KPD officials are seeking to extradite her back to Kaua‘i to face the custodial-interference charges, Shibuya said. The boyfriend of Powers is wanted in Arizona to answer other charges, Shibuya said.
There is a warrant for the arrest of Powers here, for custodial interference, in the apparent parental-abduction case, he added.
A break in the 15-month-old case came after KPD investigators put photos of and information on the boy and mother on a national crime information center Web site, Shibuya said. The younger Goldschmidt was also featured on cards distributed by officials with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, U.S. Postal Service and ADVO, Inc.
After Jacob Goldschmidt’s photograph was featured on a “Have You Seen Me?” card mailed to 107 million homes, officials with the state’s Missing Child Center-Hawaii, KPD and National Center for Missing and Exploited Children received dozens of calls from members of the public who believed they had seen the child.
Since the program was launched 19 years ago, one of every six children featured on the cards have been safely recovered, according to Charlene Takeno, coordinator of the Missing Child Center-Hawaii.
The Missing Child Center-Hawaii is under the state Department of the Attorney General. Hawai‘i Attorney General Mark Bennett credited interagency cooperation for the success of the Missing Child Center-Hawaii in this case. “It is clear that our united efforts produce visible results in these cases,” Bennett said.
“It’s a relief that the story has a happy ending,” Shibuya said.
Officials at the Missing Child Center-Hawaii always recommend an immediate call to 911 when a child is abducted, followed by a call to the Missing Child Center-Hawaii toll-free at 274-3141, then dialing 6-1449# after the recorded message. The after-hours hotline is 1-808-753-9797, a number provided as a public service by leaders of Verizon Wireless.
Coincidentally, Lt. Gov. James K. “Duke” Aiona Jr. and others today unveil a statewide child-abduction response plan. Assistant Chief Fred DeBusca of the KPD is expected to participate in the news conference to announce the establishment of the Maile Amber Alert system, named for Maile Gilbert, a 6-year-old murder victim.
Paul C. Curtis, associate editor, may be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 224) or pcurtis@pulitzer.net.
