Last year my Swiss wife Monique became seriously involved with three cults in Holland: Anthroposophy, Spiritual Human Yoga (Human Universal Energy of Luong Minh Dang), and Wicca Witchcraft. In January, 1999, she abducted my two devout Christian daughters, Celina (14) and Stephanie (11) against their will from the family home into the house of Monique's so-called Wicca high-priestess. Since then there has been a continual battle for the children. I finally rescued them to our home country, the United States. My daughters are native-born U.S. citizens who have spent more than half their lives in the U.S. There dream was to attend American schools, American churches, and speak their native language (English) with American friends. At the end of October she kidnapped them back to Holland where she and her cult friends are holding them incommunicado. She has now received a Dutch ruling that strips me of all parental rights. The last words I heard my children say were; "We are here of our own free will! We are American citizens. Please let us stay in America!" The Dutch cults are cooperating to "liberate" Celina and Stephanie from the clutches of their Christian faith.
Last year my Swiss wife Monique became seriously involved with three new age cults in Holland: Anthroposophy, Spiritual Human Yoga, and Wicca witchcraft. I wrongly assumed that her activities were harmless. In January, 1999, she abducted our two devout Christian daughters, Celina (14) and Stephanie (10) from our family home into the house of her so-called Wicca "high-priestess."
Throughout 1999 I fought with the Dutch courts and the Raad voor de Kinderbescherming (Child Protection Agency) in four hearings to rescue my children. Neither the courts nor the Raad ever considered my well-documented evidence of Monique's cult activities or of her then officially-confirmed sexual abuse of one of our daughters. Seven letters written to the court by the children were ignored.
Six lawyers in America and three in Holland informed me that because we had joint custody, I was within my legal rights to move the children back to the States. Both our daughters are native-born American citizens who have lived more than half their lives in the United States. I am also American. Monique is Swiss.
We moved to America on September 1, and the girls have never been happier in their lives, but Monique arrived shortly thereafter and boldly lied to a Maryland judge convincing him to convert a Dutch temporary access arrangement into a US custody order. She used this to create a riot of media attention and law enforcement involvement.
At the beginning of October we discovered that the FBI was chasing us. From then until our October 21st "capture" I tried to locate a lawyer willing to take on the FBI. In a heart-wrenching 15-minute standoff, the girls shielded me, pleading "Please don't take our father away. He has not kidnapped us. We are here of our own free will! We want to be in America. We are American citizens!" Still, they threw me in jail and returned the children to Monique who promptly fled to Holland, in violation of the Maryland court order.
On November 2, 1999, without me present, the Dutch courts gave Monique full custody of Celina and Stephanie. Monique requested that all my rights of access to the children be permanently revoked and the court complied. They also gave her my house, my office, and all my possessions including about $200,000 worth of computer music equipment. And 100% of my income!
After six grueling days in jail, I sit on bail in Texas, awaiting extradition to Maryland where Monique vows to put me in prison for a year for "Parental Child Abduction" -- false charges because she didn't have custody at the time. Celina and Stephanie are being held incommunicado in Holland while the Anthroposophs, Wiccans, and followers of Luong Minh Dang try to "de-program" their Christianity out of them!
Last year my Swiss wife Monique became seriously involved with three new age cults in Holland: Anthroposophy, Spiritual Human Yoga (Human Universal Energy), and Wicca Witchcraft. I wrongly assumed that her activities were harmless. In January, 1999, Monique abducted our two devout Christian daughters, Celina (14) and Stephanie (10) from our family home into the house of her so-called Wicca "high-priestess." Since then there has been a continual battle for my children.
Throughout 1999 I fought with the Dutch courts and the Raad voor de Kinderbescherming (Child Protection Agency) in four hearings. By June, because neither I nor my lawyer had been allowed to speak, I reported the Haarlem court to the Supreme Court in the Hague. I also filed complaints against the Raad for ignoring a dozen envelopes full of very well-documented evidence I'd submitted. I had also filed two complaints against the Anthroposophic cult school my wife forces our children to attend.
At a hearing on July 22, the judge listened to me present evidence that Monique was an unfit mother due to her cult activities, among other things. A psychologist had confirmed that Monique was sexually molesting our daughter. I delivered that evidence along with a letter from my daughter begging the judge for a chance to be heard. He informed me that because I had delivered that letter he was going to cut me and Christianity out of the children's lives on September 1, 1999, by reducing my access to every other Saturday -- it had been 50-50 up until that point. (It is a little-known fact that the Netherlands legal system is such that many of the judges are also practicing lawyers and some are even members of parliament. It is even possible to be a parliament member, lawyer, and judge simultaneously.)
I checked with six lawyers in America and three in Holland and discovered that because my wife and I still legally had joint custody, I was within my legal rights to move the children to the United States. Both our daughters are native-born American citizens who have lived more than half their lives in the United States. I am also American but Monique is Swiss. None of us are Dutch.
On September 1, 1999, the day we arrived in the United States, we announced our plans to have a fair custody hearing in America and our intention to invite Monique to the hearing and offer her unlimited access to our family.
With each passing day in the States, Celina and Stephanie remembered more and more what a wonderful country the it is and became resolved to stay here for good. Their realization that we are not Dutch and the feeling of finally being home at last was overwhelming. Suddenly, they felt like they "fit in," something they had never felt in Holland. Celina confessed it was her lifelong dream to attend an American school. Above all, they loved having American friends, speaking their native language, and attending American churches. Both Celina and Stephanie became happier than they'd ever been in their lives.
We didn't anticipate that Monique would arrive on September 9 and lie to the courts in Maryland, to the police, to the FBI, to ABC, NBC, and CBS, and the newspapers by claiming she had been awarded custody in Holland. None of those agencies thought to authenticate her claims. Instead, they issued warrants for my arrest and the girls' return. She convinced the FBI to become infolved.
When we discovered that the FBI was chasing us at the beginning of October we left Fairhope, Alabama, to stay wth friends in Houston, Texas, and, as over $600 in telephone calls attest, I spent much of the time looking for a lawyer in Maryland.
On October 21, before I had found a lawyer willing to take on the FBI, they caught up with us. In a heart-wrenching 15-minute standoff, the girls shielded me pleading "Please don't take our father away. He has not kidnapped us. We are here of our own free will! We want to be in America. We are American citizens!" Still, they threw me in jail and returned the children to Monique. She promptly fled to Holland, herself in violation of the Maryland court order that stated she must stay, with the children, in Maryland for a hearing about our case.
The scenario had played out just as in the article, "America's Stolen Children" (Readers' Digest — September 1999), with the FBI unwittingly facilitating the kidnapping of my American children by the foreign parent (Monique). Coincidentally, there were two US Senate Congressional Committees examining this very problem during October (the congressional testimony is on my website).
On November 2, 1999, without me present, the Dutch courts gave Monique full custody of Celina and Stephanie. Monique requested that I lose all my rights of parental access to the children and the court granted that request, ordering that there be no further contact between the children and myself, ever. She was also awarded my house, my office, and all my possessions including about $200,000 worth of computers and computer music equipment and all my music, my writings, my books, master recordings of my works, my curricula, and paintings by my parents who are both artists. Although I had given the court statements from her secret Swiss accounts (which I discovered after she left) they awarded her 100% of my income, citing a savings account that had been depleted for legal expenses a year ago as justification for this.
Monique accomplished other evils along the way: Through legal fees she has bankrupted me and my 83-year-old mother. By lying to my best friends from childhood and working with a California anti-Christian group she has turned many of my closest friends against me, including my father and my brother. She lied on nationwide TV and the newspapers to ruin my career.
And now she is working around the clock to try to have me jailed for a year. I have done nothing that could conceivably deserve this persecution .
I know my daughters are lying in bed scared and alone each night, silently praying so Monique can't hear them. They don't have anyone to mail or email like I do. They don't even know my address or their church's phone number. They are not allowed to use their computer. They are not allowed to see any of their Christian friends. So far, they aren't allowed to go to church. They don't have their Bibles.
But now Celina and Stephanie have a virtual army of people telling them that their chosen faith is an ancient religion that has long since been disproven. Every day their teachers at the Anthroposophic school reinforce this as do the parents of the children's classmates and all of Monique's cult friends. Everyone is cooperating to "liberate" Celina and Stephanie from the "clutches" of their faith. And those people will lie and cheat and do whatever it takes to "rescue" my daughters from Christianity.
Celina and Stephanie haven't yet learned about Christians being persecuted. At least I can put everything that has happened into the perspective of typical religious persecution. What perspective can they use to cope with what's happening to them? I ask myself if they remember the Beatitudes. For a time we read them and discussed them. Will they see the correlation? Will they feel it's worth the price? Matthew 5:11 is difficult enough for an adult to understand; will my children comprehend it even if, through God's grace, they do remember it?