Mother of Boy Kidnapped in Texas Custody Case Terrified for Son's Safety
Mom said she's terrified for son after his father tricked courts into custody.
Dec. 17, 2009 — -- The mother of a 10-year-old boy who police believe was kidnapped after his father tricked a court into giving him custody said she is heartbroken thinking about what he may be enduring.
"The hardest part is not being with him at night," Berenice Diaz told "Good Morning America" today, crying. "Not listening to him, it is not being with him, that is the hardest part."
Police say there were simply following orders when they forced an terrified Jean Paul Lacombe off a school bus and into his father's car, despite the boy's pleas to stay with his mother and his claims that his father hit him.
But now authorities say that the father, Jean Philippe Lacombe, 41, allegedly fooled a court into helping him get custody of his son by presenting documents in Spanish that he said gave him legal custody of his son Jean Paul. The document was actually a warrant from Mexico for his arrest, but the court couldn't read it and believed Lacombe.
"It's so hard to explain that is all a big mistake," Diaz said.
Authorities have since checked with Mexican officials and found that courts there last granted lawful custody to Diaz. Now investigators say Lacombe may have taken his son back across the border, triggering an international manhunt.
"Authorities have told me that Lacombe's car was seen crossing into Mexico back in October, but we aren't sure if he was in it," said Texas' Bexer County District Attorney Susan Reed.
Diaz released a copy of the videotape from the school bus in hopes of getting attention for her son's case. He is without medication and she is worried he may be in danger.
According to Diaz's lawyer Miquel Ortiz, Lacombe kidnapped his son once before in 2005, fleeing from Mexico to France with the boy before Diaz regained custody.
"The child is on daily medication for emotional problems stemming from the first kidnapping and now he's not taking it. That's our main concern," Ortiz said. "He has also made claims that his father physically abuses him."
Felony arrest warrants have been issued for Lacombe, who is accused of misrepresenting court documents to "unlawfully obtain possession of the child" and then disappearing with his son, according to Reed.
Jean Philippe Lacombe Allegedly Tricked Texas Court
Reed said Lacombe obtained an order to take temporary custody of his son on Oct 15. The very next day, authorities helped the father take the boy from a school bus. They were both supposed to appear in court on Oct. 19, but never showed up.
The claims of abuse by Lacombe were recorded by the school bus surveillance camera when Jean Paul was removed from the bus. The boy's mother authorized the release of the video to garner attention to her son's alleged kidnapping.
On the video, Jean Paul is seen crying in the aisle of the school bus as he tells authorities trying to coax him outside, "No no, please help me. He's not my dad. I don't want to live with him."
Asked why he doesn't think Lacombe is his dad, the child responds, "Because he hits me a lot of times. I don't want to live with him." The boy backs away from the police and down the aisle of the bus.
The cop, who is unnamed in the video, assures the boy that they won't let his father hurt him, but the child continues to resist.
Then Lacombe himself starts trying to get his son to get off the bus, saying, "Come with me, Honey" and "You're scaring your brother."
"I want to go with my mom. I want to stay with my mom, please, please, please," cries Jean Paul.
Reed said
Diaz' attorney Ortiz claims that Lacombe tricked the court by giving them a document in Spanish – one that was actually a warrant for his arrest in Mexico – and claimed it was proof that the mother was not to have custody of Jean Paul.
"He told the court that the document said [the mother] was not supposed to have access to the child, but really the document was a warrant for his arrest," said Ortiz. "Because the document was in Spanish, the court didn't know what it said."
Ortiz says District Court Judge Sol Casseb just "believed the papers" when he ruled in favor of Lacombe.