Illinois man faces federal charges of international parental kidnapping
CHICAGO — An Illinois man was indicted Thursday on federal charges of international parental kidnapping after allegedly taking his young child to Thailand in June without the knowledge of the child’s mother.
These charges resulted from an investigation conducted by the following agencies: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); East Moline (Illinois) Police Department; Moline Police Department; U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service; U.S. Marshals Service; and the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand.
Daniel Raymond Glaus, 48, of Moline, Illinois, was charged Sept. 15 with one count of international parental kidnapping and one count of using a passport secured by a false statement. The indictment and a criminal complaint were filed in the case last month. According to these court documents, Glaus took his child from East Moline, Illinois, to Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, where he and the child took flights to Bangkok, Thailand, in June. This international travel occurred without the knowledge of the child's mother and in violation of a court order of custody issued previously by a Rock Island County (Illinois) Circuit Court judge.
The charging documents alleged that Glaus did not return the child to the mother June 19 following a scheduled 72-hour visit. A state search warrant executed June 20 at Glaus’ residence revealed that the apartment had been vacated. Glaus had fraudulently applied for a U.S. passport for the child, allegedly forging a judge’s signature on a court document that falsely indicated that the child’s mother had left the United States and had relinquished custody of the child. Glaus allegedly used that passport to travel with the child from Chicago to Thailand.
On June 26, the State Department revoked Glaus’s U.S. passport, according to charging documents. Glaus was detained July 10 by Thai authorities on immigration violations. The child was flown back to the United States, arriving in Chicago July 12, and he was reunited with his mother.
HSI special agents arrested Glaus Aug. 16 at the Los Angeles International Airport on a federal arrest warrant issued in the Northern District of Illinois.
"Moving a child to a foreign country without authorization inflicts unspeakable damage upon that child,” said James M. Gibbons, special agent in charge of HSI Chicago. “HSI uses our cross-border law enforcement authorities to investigate such crimes and reunite these children with their custodial parents.”
Assistance is available to parents of internationally abducted children through the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Children's Issues.
Upon conviction, the international parental kidnapping charge carries a maximum prison sentence of three years; the charge of using a passport secured by a false statement carries up to 10 years in prison.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kartik K. Raman, Northern District of Illinois, is prosecuting this case.
The public is reminded that an indictment is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
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