Events in the abduction of Annette Carla Clark, written by Steve Clark, Annette's father, from his perspective
Annette Carla Clark (Carla Torres) abducted by her mother and by Mexican authorities
Gloria Torres Velez (Gloria Guillermina Clark) abductor
Graciela Torres Brown maternal aunt, conspirator in the abduction
Victoria Velez Aranda maternal grandmother, conspirator in the abduction
Lidia Torres Velez maternal aunt, conspirator in the abduction
Jose Luis Torres Velez maternal uncle, conspirator in the abduction
Jesus Torres Velez estranged son and sibling of the conspirators
Mark Goichman Law Guardian for Annette assigned by Ulster County (NY) Family Court
Stephen Brucker lawyer assigned to Gloria Torres Velez four days before she disappeared with Annette.
Hanna Sawka someone Gloria Torres befriended in New York. Claims to be a psychologist but there is no known valid justification for that designation. Conspirator in abduction.
Judge Marianne O. Mizel Ulster Family Court Judge who returned Annette to Gloria Torres Velez on November 20, 2001, a bad decision that she tried to rectify by any legal means possible afterwards.
Quentin Dixon NY State Police Investigator who initially refused to file a missing person report on Annette, then filed it, then had Annette removed from the NCIC computer at the request of a supervisor in July, 2002.
Laura Edmonds New York Clearing House (New York Criminal Division), person who strongly persuaded Quentin Dixon to place the missing person's report on Annette, then strongly persuaded police to put her back on when she was taken off in July, 2002.
Fernando Munoz specialist in the Citizen Affairs office of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. A "veteran" at the Embassy who sees consuls come and go. Instrumental in my contact with the Embassy.
Veridiana Medina Social Worker for the Mexican family social services agency know as DIF. Worked at DIF Morelos. Lied about visit to Annette's maternal grandmother's house in January, 2002 and ought to be charged with hiding a child under Mexican federal statutes. Conspirator in the abduction.
Yaneth Basilio Gonzalez Procurador (prosecutor or legal advocate) at DIF Morelos. Assigned to Hague Convention case I filed against Gloria Torres Velez. Showed extreme bias in case and lied about the case throughout 2002. She ought to be charged with hiding a child under Mexican federal statutes. Currently Directora de Atencion Ciudadana(Liaison or Spokeperson) for the Morelos state Government. Conspirator in the abduction.
Lourdes Avila Zambrano DIF Social Worker assigned to the case in April, 2002. Reveals to several people that Lidia Torres Velez had discussed an entry using police force with Yaneth Basilio Gonzalez, who denied the meeting with Lidia Torres Velez in front of me, an FBI agent and someone from the Morelos police (Seguridad Publica).
Raul Salinas Gonzalez FBI agent at the Embassy who interviews Yaneth Basilio Gonzalez in April, 2002 in my presence and suggests afterwards that I seek criminal prosecution in the case.
Carlos Villar FBI agent at the Embassy who says that the Hague Convention (civil remedy) is useless while saying that he hasn't seen any similar criminal cases come down the pike and wonders about their effectiveness.
Ruben Contreras a private investigator out of Mexico City who did an expensive investigation of Annette's case. His work was at best sloppy and at worst fraudulent. Made many claims he was unwilling to document.
In Ulster County (NY) Family Court, Law Guardian Mark Goichman and I argue that I be given emergency full custody of Annette because of indications that Gloria is ready to flee to Mexico with Annette.
Gloria 's newly appointed lawyer, Stephen Brucker, argues that Gloria should retain custody and that Mark Goichman should be removed as Law Guardian. Mr Brucker presents Hanna Sawka as a witness in a future custody hearing.
Judge Mizell takes a short recess to contact the State Department over the matter. When she returns, she states that she was unable to reach the State Department at the number she used. Judge Marianne O. Mizel visibly wavers and decides that no decision will be made on custody until new hearings scheduled for December 18, 2001, and February 4, 2002.
The judge warns Gloria that if she takes Annette out of school, takes her out of New York state, or takes her to Mexico, she will immediately lose all custody rights and that I will be given full custody of Annette.
Annette and Gloria are not at their New Paltz residence when I go to pick up Annette for the weekend. It is a Friday on a Thanksgiving weekend.
NY State Police Investigator Quentin Dixon informs Mark Goichman (Law Guardian) that Annette is with her mother, is not in any danger, and is therefore not missing. His reasoning is entirely wrong from both a legal and a law enforcement perspective.
Judge Mizel grants me temporary full custody of Annette. I inform her secretary that temporary full custody will not persuade Mexican officials and that what is needed is just plain full custody. (What I did not know at the time is how little respect Mexican officials would have for U.S. jurisdiction in the case.)
Assistant Public Defender Stephen Brucker, Gloria 's appointed lawyer, writes to Judge Mizel requesting that he be removed as Gloria 's counsel because of a potential conflict of interest. In the letter he states: "Hanna Sawka is a long time acquaintance of mine whom I have represented in the past." (Hanna Sawka was the person presented in court on November 20, 2001 as a potential witness against me.)
Stephen Brucker again writes to Judge Mizel requesting that he be removed because his client, Gloria, had failed to cooperate with counsel.
Gloria does not show up for a court hearing. Her counsel (Steppeh Brucker) does not show up either, although the court has not officially removed him from the case. A warrant is issued by Judge Mizel for Gloria 's arrest on contempt charges. It is my opinion, not stated at the time, that Judge Mizel should have also requested that Stephen Brucker (Gloria's assigned lawyer) be present in the courtroom.
NY State Police Investigator Quentin Dixon finally does a missing person report on Annette and puts her in the NCIC computer. He does this only after Laura Edmonds from the NY State Clearinghouse (NY State Criminal Division) makes it clear to him that not taking such steps is a violation of the law.
Gloria requests an apostille birth certificate from the NY State Health Department. A flag is raised in a computer check and her request is temporarily placed on hold. The mailing address for sending this special birth certificate is the Hanna Sawka residence. The Health Department tells me that information about the request can be obtained only by a law enforcement officer. Investigator Quentin Dixon promises to look into it but never does. (I later discover that the request was made in person and that the signature on the request resembled that of Graciela Torres-Brown, Gloria's sister and a New York state resident.)
With Fernando Munoz, a specialist at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, we request a welfare and whereabouts visit through DIF Morelos, the Mexican family services department (Morelos is a Mexican state south of Mexico City). We go with Veridiana Medina, a DIF social worker, to visit Victoria Velez Aranda, Annette 's maternal grandmother, at Annette 's suspected residence. We are parked up the street while Veridiana Medina remains in the residence for forty minutes. She leaves and informs us that Annette is not living there but that the grandmother is in contact with Gloria and Annette and will try to arrange a visit. (In October of 2007, my daughter Annette informs me that she was in the house when the DIF Morelos social worker visited, and asks if I was really worried about her if I stayed in the car outside when I knew she was inside.) For the next six weeks, Fernando Munoz (U.S. Embassy specialist) and I request a report on Veridiana Medina's visit with the grandmother and subsequent attempts to arrange a visit with Gloria. We receive nothing from DIF despite several promises.
Gloria does not show up for a hearing at Ulster County Family Court. Law Guardian Mark Goichman subpoenas Gloria 's sister, Graciela Torres-Brown, and her husband, as well as Hanna Sawka and her husband. They all deny any knowledge of the birth certificate request and deny any contact with Gloria since she disappeared. Information I receive from a private investigator in Mexico in early March, 2002, indicates that Hanna Sawka committed perjury on February 4, 2002, when she stated that she had no contact with Gloria since her disappearance. Since Graciela Torres Brown likely impersonated Gloria and likely signed for an appostille birth certificate for Annette in January, 2002, it is also likely that she committed perjury.
I file an application for the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction through the Mexican Foreign Ministry (SRE). (The most harmful mistake I ever made read on.)
A private investigator hands me a report in which it is stated that Annette was spotted leaving Victoria Velez's residence with Victoria Velez at approximately seven pm. one evening, taking a taxi to Jose Luis Torres Velez's (Annette's uncle's) Cuernavaca residence and returning to Victoria Velez's residence one hour later and not leaving for the rest of the night. The report also states that a small group of relatives and children arrived at the residence on March 1, Annette 's birthday, with gifts, and that Gloria had plans to move herself and Annette to an apartment in the same complex where Jose Luis Torres lives.
After repeated attempts, an interview is arranged for 9:30 am. with Yaneth Basilio Gonzalez, Procuradora de la Defensa del Menor y de la Familia of DIF Morelos (Prosecutor, or Legal Advocate, for the Defense of Minors and Families) . When I walk into her office, I am surprised by the presence of Victoria Velez and her lawyer. The interview disintegrates into an interrogation by Yaneth Basilio Gonzalez and accusations, insults, and menacing gestures hurled at me by Victoria Velez (Annette's maternal grandmother). Yaneth Gonzalez shows her personal disdain of me and my full custody status. (She also informs me that we are in Mexico, although I make no comments that would cause her to show her nationalist card.) I leave the room when I reflect that I am there with no witnesses as to what is taking place. I inform Yaneth Gonzalez that from that point on, I consider the whole process under protest.(And it remains under protest.) Later on that same day, at my request, Judge Mizel, (the NY Family Court Judge) sends a letter to Mark Goichman (Law Guardian) with the expressed purpose of informing Mexican authorities that there is no record of abuse by me, or my family, in New York state. Coincidentally, later that evening I see Yaneth Basilio Gonzalez on a Morelos talk show on a local television station. The program has to do with custody issues. The other guests speak of conflict between couples. Yaneth Basilio Gonzalez speaks of women and children as victims and men as abusers. One guest makes a pointed remark to her that there can be two sides to an issue and that women can sometimes be the abusers. One situation that she terms abusive and describes with indignation is a lawyer requesting that the mother pay child support when a father is requesting custody. Sra. Gonzalez at one time mentions that at age seven, according to Mexican law, a minor can decide which parent they want to live with. Annette is seven at the time. Watching Yaneth Basilio Gonzalez on that show, with all her biases, is a horrendous experience, because I can see that Annette 's fate might be determined by this fanatical stranger who should have no bearing on the matter. Yaneth Basilio Gonzalez appeared agitated during the interview and persistently stroked her hair off her forehead.
The Mexican Foreign Ministry delivers the Hague papers to the Morelos justice system, asking for a swift resolution. Yaneth Basilio Gonzalez is one of three people designated to carry out the procedures, the other two being from the Foreign Ministry. The case is assigned to the Morelos Fifth Civil Court.
The court issues an order allowing us to deliver papers to Gloria at Victoria Velez's (Annette's grandmother's) residence during daylight hours on a weekday. We go to the residence with the Court Actuary, ring the bell and knock on the door. A small dog barks vociferously inside. No one answers the door. My lawyer immediately calls the residence and someone picks up the telephone.
With a new order allowing us to deliver a summons to Gloria at both Victoria Velez's house and Jose Luis Torres Velez's house, we knock on the door of the Jose Luis Torres residence late on a Sunday afternoon. His wife, Patricia Gonzalez, eventually acknowledges us but refuses to open the door. She claims no knowledge of the whereabouts of Gloria and Annette. Her voice betrays extreme nervousness. We go to the Victoria Velez residence. The Court Actuary and my lawyer's wife knock on the door while my lawyer and I remain in a car. Victoria Velez and Lydia Torres Velez (Annette's maternal aunt) approach the door with bags of groceries. They refuse to take the papers and do not open their door. After an hour of haggling, Victoria Velez agrees to take the papers. The door to the residence is never opened and the groceries remain outside. Jose Luis Torres arrives on the scene and threatens to physically assault me the next time he sees me. When he realizes I am in a car parked nearby, he becomes more subdued.
Jose Luis Torres files a statement with the Fifth Civil Court in which he states that Gloria and Annette reside in neither suspected residence and that no one in the family knows of their whereabouts. Later that evening, an acquaintance that I hired to do surveillance, sees Jose Luis, his wife, and Gloria exit from Jose Luis's car outside the Victoria Velez residence. They wait a few minutes outside as other family members gather. A line of people form a barrier from the car to the door as a person of about Annette's size with feminine looking sneakers is rushed from the car and through the door with a pink blanket over her head and torso.
Jesus Torres (Annette's maternal uncle), who has had an extreme falling out with the family and has been assisting me, spots Gloria sticking her head out of the door of the Victoria Velez residence around midnight.
A person doing surveillance sees a person enter Victoria Velez's residence and exit from the door of an abandoned property adjacent to it. There is a wall between properties that dwindles near the beginning of a steep slope to a ravine (barranca) below the properties.
The Fifth Civil Court issues an order to enter the Victoria Velez residence using public force. There is a five-day waiting period before it can take effect. The judge insists on publishing the order despite protestations from my Cuernavaca lawyer, a lawyer of integrity, well-known in the community, with a career in labor law in Cuernavaca.
The entry into the Victoria Velez residence takes place at six am. There is a ten-minute delay as the Court Actuary argues with Lydia Torres, then with Victoria Velez through a closed door. The door is only opened after a locksmith begins to make noises with his tools. I am not allowed to enter the residence. The two municipal police officers check the house with my lawyer. Later, when I ask about the abandoned property next door, the police officers say that there is a wall between properties and that there was no way to escape to the abandoned property. I know from first-hand knowledge of the house that this is not true. (See Mid April, 2002-- A person doing surveillance sees a person enter Victoria Velez's residence and exit from the door of an abandoned property adjacent to it.) A couple minutes after the entry, Morelos State Police arrive on the scene to monitor the situation. They arrive swiftly after a call from Lydia Torres in which she states that the entry was being made aggressively and abusively.
While everyone is inside the residence, Lydia Torres accuses the Court Actuary of bias towards me because she (the actuary) and I were engaged in a sexual relationship. (The only time the Court Actuary and I had been alone was leaving the Morelos Civil Court building while my lawyer's associate went to get a car to take the three of us to DIF to deliver court papers. We were engaged in a friendly conversation when Yaneth Basilio Gonzalez (DIF Procuradora) passed us coming into the building. The Actuary and Yaneth Basilio Gonzalez talked briefly while I waited. (It is my unsubstantiated assertion that Yaneth Basilio Gonzalez fed Lydia Torres the idea that the Actuary and I were engaged in inappropriate sexual relations.) While everyone is inside, Victoria Velez exits and begins threatening me with an oversize wood ladle about a yard long with a sharp edge that she brandishes over my head at close range. When I request that the police take the stick away from her, they do nothing. Victoria Velez then says that next time it will be a pistol. It goes in the Actuary 's report as "Next time it will be a pistol and I will kill you." After the failed pick up, we go out to have breakfast. The DIF social worker newly assigned to the operation, Lourdes Avila Zambrano, remarks that Lydia Torres had been in Yaneth Basilio Gonzalez 's office a few days prior to the entry, discussing the court order to go in using public force. It was said in front of me, my lawyer, his associates and the Court Actuary.
FBI Special Agent Raul Salinas Gonzalez and I interview Yaneth Basilio Gonzalez, in the presence of a Morelos law enforcement agent, about DIF activities in Annette 's case and Yaneth Basilio Gonzalez's interview with Lydia Torres. She claims to not know where Annette is located and to not know who Lydia Torres is. Raul Salinas tells me he can see that she is lying. He strongly suggests that I get criminal prosecution against Gloria in NY state.
A criminal complaint is filed against Gloria Torres Velez (Annette's mom), Lydia Torres Velez (Annette's aunt), Jose Luis Torres(Annette's uncle) and Victoria Velez Aranda (Annette's grandmother), with the Procuraduria de Justicia in Cuernavaca, Morelos (municipal law enforcement for the city of Cuernavaca).
An order is issued by the Fifth Civil Court asking that DIF turn over a complete report on its activities in the case. DIF sends a report back that is very incomplete and misleading. My lawyer requests that the court request a new report with a threat to fine DIF for its defiance. Jesus Torres (the alienated brother who is assisting me) spots Gloria and Annette in a car driven by Patricia Gonzalez, Jose Luis Torres' wife.
I file a complaint against Yaneth Basilio Gonzalez with the Comision Estatal de Derechos Humanos (State Human Rights Commission) in Morelos. I detect a waning interest in the case from my Cuernavaca lawyer.
I begin a hunger strike which lasts ten days. I end it when I am told that the Mexican court system will be out of session for about three weeks and after the Mexican Foreign Ministry assures me that the Interpol department of AFI (Mexican equivalent of FBI) is likely investigating the case at that moment in Morelos. A couple local New York newspaper articles are written on the abduction and my frustration with the systems in both the U.S. and Mexico. I maintain in 2008 that U.S,. and Mexican authorities, through civil and prosecutorial means, should have been able to retrieve Annette from Mexico in July 2002. State Police Investigator Quentin Dixon removes Annette and Gloria from the NCIC computer at the request of his superior, Investigator Martinez. I do not learn of this removal until September, 2002.
A pick up order is issued by the Ulster County Family Court, authorizing law enforcement personnel anywhere in the world to pick up Annette and turn her over to me, and to arrest Gloria or her associates if they should interfere. In an interview with the legal attache at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, an FBI agent , Carlos Villar, tells me that the Hague is useless and that he knows of no successful Hague cases. He tells me I need a criminal warrant against Gloria from the U.S.
Investigator Martinez (see July 2002) denies that he ordered the deletion of Annette and Gloria from the NCIC computer. It takes ten days of telephone calls to get Gloria and Annette back in the computer. Calls from Laura Edmonds from the New York State Missing and Exploited Children Clearinghouse and the local FBI finally get the NY State Police and the Ulster Sheriff's Department, which now has the case, to put them back in the database. In January, 2003, Investigator Martinez will admit that he ordered the removal because "they don't belong" in the NCIC database because no crime has been committed. His statement in January contradicts the statement he made to me in September. In September, the Ulster Sheriff's Department takes over the case.. Later in the month, a private investigator spots Gloria and Annette in Cuernavaca, Morelos.
Luz Elena Lopez, who works in the office at the Mexican Foreign Ministry that handles the Hague cases, informs me that Mexican Interpol has been given thirty cases of missing children in Hague cases since March of 2002 and that the Foreign Ministry has not heard back at all from Interpol on any case. The Morelos State Human Rights Commission denies my complaint against Yaneth Basilio Gonzalez (Mexican Family Social Devices legal advocate in Morelos) as groundless, without doing an investigation. Later that month, a private investigator spots Victoria Velez, Annette 's maternal grandmother, making three lengthy visits to Yaneth Basilio Gonzalez's office. Even later that month, I fly to Mexico again and hire Andres Linares, a personal acquaintance of the director of the Mexican Foreign Ministry (SRE) office in charge of the Hague, as my lawyer. He suggests a three-pronged attack using the Fifth Civil Court, the local police and the Procuraduria General de la Republica (federal prosecution and law enforcement). Some papers are filed with the civil court in Morelos. The local Judicial Police are assigned by the Court to investigate the matter and locate Annette for the Court. On the day I visit the Fifth Civil court in Morelos with my lawyer, Andres Linares, someone enters the Fifth Civil Court and says he is a comandante (chief) with the municipal police. He takes the files without giving identification and no one in the Fifth Court seems to know him. In the afternoon, with an associate of Andre Linares, as we are visiting the municipal police, we see Victoria Velez Aranda entering the grounds. She goes into the office of the Assesor, who is supposed to help victims in crimes, and waits outside on a bench. The assesor leaves his office and exchanges papers with Victoria Velez twice.)
Ulster County (NY) District Attorney Donald Williams refers the case to the U.S. Attorney in Syracuse, NY for federal prosecution.
I am interviewed about the case by the local FBI. In a very short time they hand over papers to David Grabel, U.S. Assistant Attorney out of Albany, New York. My Mexican lawyer has his brother doing surveillance in Morelos. The brother begins working with Jesus Torres (alienated brother of Gloria) who wants to help the investigation. Nothing is done with the local police complaint in Cuernavaca and nothing is accomplished with the PGR (federal prosecutors).
Gloria is seen in Victoria Velez's house in the middle of the day without Annette on two occasions. (Informant's name will not be revealed.)
Jesus Torres spots Gloria and Annette in Jose Luis Torres's car outside the residence of Victoria Velez. They spot Jesus Torres. A municipal police car soon arrives. Jose Luis and other members of the family discuss matters with the police and Jose Luis departs in his car with Gloria and Annette. The police car remains to make sure no one follows and then leaves.
I make several calls to my lawyer's office (Andres Linares, referred by Mexican Foreign Ministry) asking that he contact me by phone or email. I ask for a summary of activities in the case. I receive nothing. I contact him on his cell phone twice and he acts as though he can 't hear me. I contact his brother on the office phone and he also acts as though he can 't hear me.
I testify before a federal grand jury in Albany, New York. Gloria is indicted on federal international parental kidnapping charges.
Carlos Villar, from the FBI in at the U. S. Embassy in Mexico, tells me I won 't need a private investigator because his contacts are good and they are free. He also says he has seen any warrants of this nature pass through the Legal Attache's Office and wonders about its efficacy. Six weeks later he goes to Cuernavaca and says that he arranges an investigation.
In an in-person interview with State Department people at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, I am told that it is unlikely that Annette will be directly handed over to me by Mexican law enforcement. They tell me she will be submitted to the Mexican judicial process, put in a DIF facility, and that a Hague hearing will be held. When I tell them that no American father has been successful using the Hague in an involuntary return, they tell me there have been such cases. (This contradicts what the State Department puts on its own website in 2008, when they mention the first case of an American father retrieving his children through the Hague in Mexico, in October 2007.) When I ask them to name a case in the last five years, they have none to offer me. It is the first time that State Department officials give me misleading information, although they have given me vague information in the past. Later that month, I hear from the local FBI that FBI Agent Carlos Villar is also of the opinion that Annette will have to be submitted to the Hague process. I begin sending e-mails to the State Department stating why I think a Hague Convention scenario is not feasible.
I send more e-mails to the State Department. Howard Clyde replies from the Embassy. He is adamant in supporting a Hague solution to the matter. I am adamant that it will not take place. I arrive at an impasse with the State Department and make the decision to be in no further immediate contact with them.
A person I have hired in Cuernavaca makes numerous sightings of Gloria and Annette and also observes people enter the maternal grandmother's residence with cake, gifts and balloons. A letter to the U.S. Ambassador is responded to by the Consul General, Laura Clerici. In it she asks that I not do anything drastic and that a pick up might be imminent. In the letter she states that Mexican Immigration would turn Annette over to me when Gloria was picked up. The application for the warrant is rejected at the Justice Department in Washington by Tony Garcia. He feels there is insufficient evidence that they are in Mexico.
More sightings of Annette and Gloria. Carlos Villar, the FBI agent out of the Embassy, interviews the person I hired in Cuernavaca who has made the sightings of Gloria and Annette.
Congressman Maurice Hinchey (22nd District) sends an official letter of inquiry to the Justice Department asking them to expedite the warrant. I believe that his letter was essential for moving the case forward. I am deeply grateful to Maurice Hinchey and his office to this day.
Laura Clerici, Consul General, does not return calls from David Grabel, Assistant U.S. Attorney out of Albany, asking if, in the event Gloria is picked up, Annette will be turned over to me rather than going through civil court hearings. I call her and she claims there are other people more qualified to comment. She defends the Hague and says cases work best when the two sides work something out. It is clear she considers it a civil custody issue rather than a criminal issue.
The Justice Department responds to Maurice Hinchey's inquiry, assuring him they take the matter of international parental kidnapping seriously.
The local FBI, at my urging, request a letter that Annette's maternal grandmother, Victoria Velez Aranda, wrote to Marta Sahagun de Fox, the First Lady of Mexico, back in January of 2002. In the letter there are many accusations against me. It then states that for those reasons her daughter and granddaughter came to Mexico. This is the evidence the Justice Department needed to request an international warrant.
Warrant issued. It goes to State Department.
There is talk from the Legal Liaison, Joan Safford, of a deal being struck in a similar case where Mexico wants someone returned to Mexico. The warrant is readied to present to a Mexican judge for Mexican "certification." The local FBI inform me that the warrant is now with the Ambassador, Antonio Garza, who will have it presented to Mexican authorities. There is no word from FBI informants about Annette's whereabouts.
I meet with the FBI agent at the U.S. Embassy newly assigned to the case. We don't meet inside the Embassy but at a nearby Starbuck's in Mexico City. The reason he gives for not meeting me inside the Embassy is that renovations are being done. He tells me that he has more important fugitives, such as double murderers, so that Gloria's case is not a priority for him. I suggest that Gloria's case is an ongoing crime and therefore important, but he appears unmoved.
I am informed by the FBI agent from the Embassy that Mexican federal authorities have told him that the grandmother's house is vacant. I call the house a couple times and Annette's uncle and grandmother answer. A private investigator obtains information showing that the phone for that physical address was in constant use in June. In July, the FBI agent from the Embassy informs me that his information was from someone with the PGR (Mexican federal police), who claimed to investigate in Cuernavaca and was told by neighbors that the grandmother's house was vacated.
The FBI agent at the Embassy calls the Kingston, NY FBI agent to say that he has gone to the grandmother's house at the address given by me and that it is a vacant lot and that he has taken pictures of it. In November, a private investigator takes pictures that show the house at that address to still be there. In a telephone conversation in February, 2006, the FBI agent at the Embassy informs me that the house was there but that the electric meter was off. I tell him I had just called the number at the house and that the grandmother answered.
I hire Ruben Contreras, a private investigator out of Mexico City. He has a sterling resume, having once been in charge of personnel at a major Mexican television network, as well as having a son working as a specialist at a major U.S. teaching hospital in Boston and a son who is the director of a major Mexican government arts organization.
He claims to locate Annette and Gloria in Morelia, Michoacan. According to his reports, it appears they are aware they have been found and begin traveling with someone who is apparently Julio Hernandez, an alleged comandante (chief) of his unit of the Judicial Police in Cuernavaca. They travel, according to Ruben Contreras, from Morelia to Cuernavaca, then to Tuxtla Gutierrez, then to the Guatemala border, then to Guatemala, then to Acapulco, Mexico City, Tepoztlan in the state of Morelos, then Cuernavaca and Jiutepec in Morelos. Ruben Contreras claims Gloria will fly to Houston to see a lawyer. He claims it has been confirmed she is on the plane. FBI agents in Houston do not see her departing the plane. Two days later Ruben Contreras calls and says that Gloria has made two calls from a phone booth outside a Holiday Inn in San Antonio, Texas.
I become suspicious when he can't give me an exact address for the supposed phone call but knows it is a phone booth outside some Holiday Inn. I tell him I won't pay him any more until he can provide some documentation on the school in Morelia, on Comandante Julio Hernandez, on anything. He tells me it doesn't work that way in Mexico and says I owe about $2,500 U.S. He had been paid over $15,000 U.S. I tell him documentation comes first and he hangs up, ending things on bad terms.
I ask another private investigator to verify some of Contreras's information. He tells me the director's name at the school in Morelia is wrong. He tells me he called the Morelos Judicial Police and that there is no Julio Hernandez, that he is entirely fictitious.
I call the school in Morelia and ask for the person given to me by Contreras. The woman says that it is she who is speaking and that she is the director. Her behavior is suspicious. She pretends to cooperate too much with someone who calls her out of the blue. She consults her list and says no one by the name of Annette Carla Clark has attended the school. I then call DIF Michoacan and ask to speak to Maria de Refugio Ortiz, the name given by Contreras as the DIF person who interviewed the school director about Annette's attendance at the school. I am told that there is no Maria de Rufugio Ortiz but there is a Maria Eugenia Ortiz. I ask to speak to her and say she might have information about a kidnapping. The person puts me on hold for five minutes. Someone else picks up the phone. She tells me there is no Maria Eugenia Ortiz working there. I call the next day and speak to the first person. She says Maria Eugenia Ortiz is in a meeting. I call a few more times in the next couple days and each time she is in a meeting.
I call the Judicial Police in Cuernavaca. I ask to speak to Julio Hernandez and am told that he isn't there right now, which would indicate that he does, indeed, exist. A private investigator also calls and is told when he can call back to speak to Comandante Julio Hernandez. After more phone calls, someone who identifies himself as a lawyer for the police department informs the private investigator that no one named Julio Hernandez works at the department.
I call the FBI agent at the Embassy, to let him know that Annette's birthday is approaching and that it would be a good time to do surveillance at the grandmother's. He tells me that he doesn't think AFI (Mexican police federal police agency) will be interested because I've provided too many leads that didn't pan out. I tell them they didn't pan out because AFI didn't do enough with the leads. He then argues that surveillance would be hard on a busy street and I argue that it would be harder on a quiet street. We then argue about whether the grandmother's house is vacated and I tell him I just called there. The pointless argument about whether the grandmother's house is vacant has been going on for over six months and has severely strained my relationship with the Legal Attache's Office at the Embassy.
A letter is faxed to Congressman Maurice Hinchey and Members of the Senate Caucus on Missing, Exploited and Runaway Children. The letter explains how no U.S. father has ever been successful using the Hague, strongly criticizes the Legal Attache's Office at the Embassy and vehemently accuses the Mexican government of malfeasance in Annette's case and others like it.
An AFI (Mexican FBI) agent goes into the maternal grandmother's house. He pretends he is interested in renting an apartment. He spots Annette and someone who looks like Gloria. He then leaves and has the house staked out by federal police. Someone who they think is Gloria leaves the house. They detain her. Annette and her maternal grandmother stay in the house. After a few hours, they determine that the person they have detained is too tall to be Gloria, although she is a "spittin' image." She claims to be Gloria's sister, Lidia Torres Velez. (The person detained was likely Gloria's sister, although I'm hesitant to make any assumptions.)
The FBI asks AFI (Mexican FBI) to get an emergency warrant to go into the house to pick up Annette. The warrant is refused by a Mexican federal judge because it "isn't a serious crime." However, under Mexican law parental abduction is a felony. One FBI agent at the Embassy tells me he wants to "throw someone out the window" when he hears about the warrant denial by the federal judge. The operation is called off and the police leave. (I do not question what the AFI agent attempted and do not see it as a farce. However, the Mexican judicial response was indeed a farce. The investigating AFI agent had recently replaced another agent assigned to the investigation who had appeared to be quite corrupt. The AFI agent who investigated on July 14, 2007 was killed later in 2007 while investigating a different fugitive case. Honest law enforcement agents in Mexico are some of the bravest people on the planet. My respect and admiration go out to them.)
No progress is made on the case. I make many inquiries with the State Department, the FBI and the Embassy. Some of my inquiries are respectful, others acrimonious.
Gloria is detained and arrested in the city of Colima, Mexico. I receive a call from the FBI office in Kingston, New York.
I cannot get a flight arriving in Colima on the 17th. I fly to Mexico City in the evening and take a flight to Colima on the 18th. While in the taxi to the airport in Mexico City, I return a call on my cell phone from an FBI agent at the Embassy. We discuss the situation, discuss concerns about my safety in Colima and arrange to have one of their contacts, someone from the Colima State Police, arrange to pick me up at the airport and accompany me to the DIF (Mexican family social services) facility where Annette has been placed. I arrive at the Colima airport around 12 noon. No one from the Colima State Police is there to greet me. There are indications that I might be under surveillance by a Mexican agent at the tiny airport. I am on the phone with the FBI agent at Embassy. There are no flights coming in and the airport is abandoned other than workers at the airport, me, and a person who appeared to have me under surveillance. In a few calls to the FBI agent at the Embassy, I let him know that no one has arrived to pick me up and that the airport is very small, with no visible security worth speaking of, and that I'm feeling very vulnerable.
The FBI agent informs me that there are "forces at play" that are attempting to keep me from picking up Annette. The agent from the Colima State Police arrives around 2:30 p.m. and we proceed to DIF Colima. He calls ahead to make sure their offices will be open. What is discussed with him on the phone for about an hour is paperwork at DIF followed by Annette leaving the DIF facility with me. The plan I discussed with the Colima State police officer was for a flight out of the country with Annette that evening, with him providing transportation and protection.
We arrive at DIF. The police officer who accompanies me asks if the person who can sign off on Annette's release is available. He is told that the woman who can sign off on the release has an emergency in Manzanillo (resort town near Colima city) and that she and her accompanying staff won't be back until tomorrow. The police officer places an anonymous call to the DIF offices and confirms that the woman at DIF Colima was in her office in Colima and available that afternoon.
The police officer drops me off at a Colima hotel. I ask if he will be picking me up in the morning to go to DIF Colima. He tells me that he will not and that the circumstances that day would indicate that I didn't need a police escort. (Although I don't agree with his assessment, I feel that it was the Embassy, more than this officer, that left me in a potentially dangerous situation during my time in Colima.)
After many calls to various agencies in the U.S. and at the Embassy, it is agreed that it would be pointless to try to see Annette that day, at the facility where she is essentially being sequestered by DIF Colima, without additional negotiations by various agencies. The advice of the Embassy is to stay put in my hotel and wait.
At about 5 pm I notice Graciela Torres Velez, Gloria's sister from New York, on the sidewalk near my hotel. It is the first time that day I stepped out of the hotel. I walk past her but look back. She appears very flustered and frantically hails a taxi. As she steps into a taxi, I'm on the phone leaving a message about her with the FBI in Kingston, NY.
I receive e-mails and phone calls early in the morning from the Embassy, informing me that Graciela Torres has filed an amparo (Mexican appeals process) in the name of Annette, requesting that Annette be turned over to Graciela Torres (Gloria's sister). I am told to get a lawyer in Colima immediately. It is clear that delays, lies and negotiations by Mexican agencies were for the purpose of allowing an amparo to be placed so that I wouldn't be able to retrieve Annette from the DIF facility. (The use of amparos is the preferred tool to subvert the legitimate rights of U.S. citizens and minors once a minor has been placed in a DIF facility, in those rare cases where Mexican authorities actually "find" an abducted minor.)
I hire an attorney in Colima late in the morning. We are at the DIF offices that afternoon, presenting a petition for Annette's return. The DIF directors inform us that there is nothing they can do because of the amparo and that it was the SRE (Mexican Foreign Ministry) who instructed them to hold Annette and not turn her over to me. (The SRE later denies any such instruction.) DIF also repeats the lie that no one was available to process my petition for Annette's return on September 18, although they were not questioned about that detail and offered it without any prompting, tipping me off that they were extremely biased and irremediable liars.