In Sean Goldman Case - Brazilian Legal System Now on Trial

It was April 22, 2000 when Elian Gonzalez was removed from his relatives home in Miami and he was reunited with his father. After that, it took the American Legal System just over two months to allow is father Juan Miguel Gonzalez to fly back home with Elian. Now the Brazilian Court system is on trial to order step father and attorney Mr. Lins e Silva to do the right thing and send Sean Goldman home to New Jersey, USA to live with his custodial father David Goldman. The Brazilian local court was wrong to grant a divorce to the mother in Brazil and made the situation worse by not immediately ordering Lins e Silva to immediately start reunification efforts to transfer custody to Sean's biological father. Now the Brazilian court system has the opportunity to correct this.

(source: pbs.org)

I applaud the efforts of Secretary State Hilary Rodham Clinton as well as Senators Lautenberg, Menendez and Feingold for speaking up for the rights of Sean Goldman, David Goldman. The plight of the victim parents and victim children of International Family Abduction cases is one that few politicians in Washington have taken the time to address.

I'm sure anxious victim parents with International Family Abduction cases await the verdict in this case. Now it's time for the Brazil and their court system to do the right thing. Put Sean Goldman on a plane for United States right now, just like the United States did with Elian Gonzalez.

What do Sean Goldman and Elian Gonzalez have in common?

This is not an underground case but I wanted to voice my opinions about it.

So what do Sean Goldman, 8 years old son of International parental kidnapping victim parent David Goldman http://www.bringseanhome.org and Elian Gonzalez, 7 years on June 28, 2000, son of Juan Miguel Gonzalez Quintana of Cuba have in common? Both Sean Goldman mother and Elian Gonzalez mother tragically died and at very young ages found themselves involved in International parental kidnapping cases (source: Wikipedia).

In the United States of America, some of us claim to have the best legal system in the world, bar none. Despite what some special interest cause groups in America think, I believe this extends to our family court system, especially in our handling of International Parental Kidnapping cases such as the Elian Gonzalez case. On June 28, 2000, after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case, the boy's asylum petition filed on behalf of a Miami relative was upheld by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta and Elian was returned to his biological father in Cuba. That cases involved International politics but eventually the correct decision was made in accordance with International parental kidnapping treaties such as the Hague Convention.

In Sean Goldman's case, he was born in the United States in 2000, the son of parents David Goldman of New Jersey and Bruna Ribeiro, a Brazilian national. In June 2004, Bruno Ribeiro boarded a plane in New Jersey for Rio de Janeiro. She called her husband David and told him she wanted a divorce and was keeping their son in Brazil. As in many International parental kidnapping cases, rather than seek custody of the child through the child's last residence, the New Jersey county court, she took the law into her own hands and fled to Brazil, playing judge, jury and executioner, refusing to let David see his son. To further complicate matters, during the ensuing International legal battle, Bruna Ribeiro, the abducting parent was granted a divorce in Brazil, married her lawyer Joao Paulo Lins e Silva a son of a family law attorney in Rio, then died during the birth of a new child in 2008. The Brazilian court granted custody to the step father, Mr. Lins e Silva and since that time, despite litigation, David Goldman has only seen his son once and the Brazilian Court refuses to return Sean Goldman to his biological parent. With the Brazilian step grandfather a family law attorney and the wife marrying her attorney, this case is not as much about International politics like the Gonzalez case as it is about the shortcomings of the Brazilian family court system and the lack of response by the Brazilian government to intervene.

Nevertheless, the New York Times is reporting that it is possible that Hilary Rodham Clinton, America's new Secretary of State might add this case as an agenda item when speaking to Celso Amorim, the Brazilian foreign minister when they meet today. As a member of the family abduction victim parent community, I would really like to see Hilary step up to the plate ensure Sean Goldman is returned to his biological father, David Goldman immediately as well as other kidnapped children residing in Brazil.

Mark Baskin and Debbie Baskin on the Today Show

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How Did Marvin Maple Create a New Identity?

Perhaps if we understand how Marvin Maple created a new identity, we can find the location of other missing children and parental kidnappers. Below is a search on a free site: www.PeopleFinders.com with the search results for John Bunting and Marvin Maple. It is suprisingly looks like very accurate information. What investigators need to do is to find out how Marvin Maple created this new identity and those third parties that aided and abetted him.

Marvin L. Maple Arrested

Here are pictures of Marvin L. Maple. Is parental kidnapping worth it?

Faye Yager Link to Marvin Maple Case - Get a Warrant

The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported on July 16, 1990 about Faye Yager or Faye Yaegers link to the Marvin Maple and Sandra Maple kidnapping of the Baskin children. When a child is recovered in these underground cases, it is important for law enforcement to get a warrant to gather evidence on who helped or has been helping the abductor stay in hiding. That said, because the abductor Marvin Maple was arrested in San Jose and will be extradited to Tennessee for prosecution, it is unlikely Tennessee law enforcement will get a warrant for searching Marvin Maple's home to find his address book, computer records, phone bills, credit card receipts and bank records. Usually, the abductor will use phone cards so a limited number of phone records exist.

In 1992, Faye Yager was unsuccessfully prosecuted by a District Attorney in Georgia. We'll see if the Tennessee District Attorney will also seek charges and evidence against third party co-conspirators in 1989. Also, there should be an investigation into how Marvin Maple was able to create false identities and social security numbers for his adult children. This information could lead to the hope for more parents that are still searching for their children such as victim parents and the arrest of abducting mothers with ties to Faye Yager's Underground like: Elizabeth Stratton, Antioch, CA in December 1997, Dorothy Lee Barnett, April 1994 and Annette Rosenberg in October 1990. These cases are still open...


Here is the info on the link between Faye Yager's Children of the Underground and Marvin Maple.

Mrs. Baskin thinks activist Faye Yager played a part in her parents' flight and their earlier campaign to destroy the Baskins in court.

"There are records that my parents called Faye Yager two or three times in February [1989]," Mrs. Baskin said. Police confirmed the calls.

Mrs. Yager, whose Atlanta-based underground network hides allegedly abused children, was recently charged with kidnapping and cruelty to children for allegedly intimidating a child to lie about sexual abuse and satanism in an unrelated case. She has denied the allegation.

Mrs. Yager said she talked to the Maples "several different times" before they fled with the Baskin children, "but they are not a part of my underground," she said. "I gave them advice on what I'd do if they were my children. I told them step by step. If they've followed my direction, they've done a good job."

Mrs. Yager said she believes the Maples' allegations about the Baskins but said she has not talked to the elder couple since before their disappearance and does not know where they are.

Reference: Atlanta Journal Constitution

Marvin Maple is Arrested - Chisti and Bobby Baskin Found

Chisti and Bobby Baskin were abducted by their grandparents, Marvin Maple and Sandra Maple. Marvin and the children were found in San Jose, California living under assumed names. The children Christi and Bobby are now adults, age 28 and 27.

The left behind parents, Mark and Debbie Baskin are now living in Georgia. The grandparents were Debbie Baskin's parents.

There were alleged links to Faye Yager in this case and if it can be proved that Yager helped, it would be nice to see some government agency seek prosecution in this case. Could you image not seeing your children for 20 years?