Mother Set Up

April 22, 2009 permalink

Florida mother Tiffany Cassara-Rodriguez is wanted by police for abducting her two children. The mother says a DCF worker authorized her to take her family on vacation.

This sounds like a case of a New Hampshire DCYF set up in 2002.

In a series of Usenet reports in 2002 Carol Hamel of Laveen Arizona told of a trick played on her fiancé Robert S. His three children were involved in a child protection case in New Hampshire. One day a DCYF worker informed him that the protection order was lifted and he was free to take his children home. In May 2002 he took them on a plane to Arizona, where he was arrested on arrival in Sky Harbor Airport for interstate kidnapping. The statement from the DCYF worker was not on record. The three children were held by Arizona CPS for a few days, then returned to New Hampshire where they went to three separate foster homes. Carol got New Hampshire lawyer Paula Werme to take the case, and Robert was released on August 2 after spending three months in jail. There is no report on the ultimate fate of the three children. To show that she was not faking it, Carol posted the docket numbers of the cases, in Colebrook District Court: Docket# 02-JV-00021,23,24, and for Arizona CPS, 235150.

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Originally posted on: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 by Michelle Burdo, Last updated on: 4/21/2009 6:29:55 PM

Missing mom: I'm not missing

FORT MYERS: The woman at the center of a nationwide search spoke to NBC2 Tuesday.

Authorities launched a cross country search for Tiffany Cassara-Rodriguez after she left town with her two young children, violating a court order.

Tuesday night, the children were placed on FDLE's website for missing children.

Fort Myers police have a warrant out for their mother's arrest. But when we spoke to her Tuesday, she said the whole thing is a misunderstanding.

"It's a huge mix up - a complete, total mix up," Cassara-Rodriguez said.

On the phone, she explained that she left Fort Myers with her two children and went on vacation. Police say they're headed towards Minnesota.

"So I have custody and control of my children. And control means I can go on vacation whenever the heck I want," the mother said.

But the family is under DCF supervision, which means they're not allowed to leave the area without permission.

When we asked her if she in fact got permission to leave, she responded, "Yes I did. I sat right there and told her my plans. She did not in anyway say I couldn't go."

She was talking about her case worker, who she says visited her Fort Myers apartment last week.

So we asked Amie McClaughlin, with the Children's Network of Southwest Florida, if they were notified the family was leaving.

"It's OK if they go on vacation. But there are certain things the case worker needs to know - where they're going, the return date, et cetera. None of those things were done," she said.

And that is why the children are the subject of a nationwide search.

Tuesday, we asked Cassara-Rodriguez where she is. But she simply said, "I'm not going to tell you that."

Now, there is a warrant out for her arrest to help bring the children back to Southwest Florida.

We do not know the reason why the family is under DCF supervision for confidentiality reasons.

And no Amber Alert has been issued yet because law enforcement can't prove the children are in immediate danger.

Source: WBBH-TV Ft Myers