Fact Sheet- Fasel Abduction of Yavelow Children

While I would prefer that my private life would have remained private I have come to see that in the last few months it has become quite public.

What is particularly troubling to me is numerous inaccuracies that have been circulated in the press.

Below is a Fact Sheet that I have prepared.There is a shorter version of this fact sheet available.

Please note: This case is particularly confusing to Americans because the laws of Holland for child custody and divorce are very different than the laws of the United States. We were living as husband and wife in Holland since 1993 and therefore, the Dutch courts have claimed jurisdiction in this case.

For example:

Background

Chronology of events

France

25-NOV-1978
Christopher and Monique met in Paris, France. Subsequently they live in Basel, Switzerland.

United States of America

18-AUG-1981
Couple relocated to the United States
14-FEB-1982
Couple married in Cambridge, Massachusetts
MAY-1992
Avowed witch Lola Babylon befriends Monique, convinces the family to enroll their children in a Waldorf school. Seven years later Christopher discovers Waldorf Schools are a front for the New Age cult of Anthroposophy.
08-JAN-1993
Sexual molestation incidents at the Waldorf school prompt the family's decision to more to Europe.

The Netherlands

02-SEP-1993
Family moves to Zandvoort, the Netherlands
1995
Christopher becomes the primary caregiver of his two children because Monique’s escalating involvement in New Age Movements keeps her away from home too much.
1996
Monique gets heavilly involved with the S.H.Y. (Spiritual Human Yoga) a.k.a. HUE (Human Universal Energy) cult let by Luong Minh Dang. Christopher disapproves of the beliefs and practices of his cult. Luong Minh Dang is considered by the governments of Belgium, France, and Switzerland to be a dangerous “Jim Jones” type. When Dang is banned from one country, he moves on the next and establishes himself and his cult under a new name. Arrested in Belgium in January, 1999, for fraud and illicit exercise of healing, he was released on 50 million francs bail and has fled to St. Louis, Missouri.
31-AUG-1996
Monique attains level 1 of S.H.Y. (Luong Minh Dang)
05-SEP-1996
Monique attains level 2 of S.H.Y. (Luong Minh Dang)
13-SEP-1996
Monique attains level 3 of S.H.Y. (Luong Minh Dang) in Paris
25-NOV-1996
Having attained level 3 of S.H.Y., Monique begins working at Luong Minh Dang’s Human Universal Energy Center
08-JAN-1997
Monique’s mother has a stroke.
26-FEB-1997
Monique’s mother dies.
Monique escalates involvement in her cults.
Monique is spending several evenings a week out of the house. She is gone an average of 10 hours a day, Monday thru Friday and manages to be gone a large part of each weekend too. Christopher who often works from home has now taken on the role of mother and father. The children complain about their mother being gone all of the time.
1997, 1998
Christopher attempts to begin the children’s Christian education but is continuously thwarted by Monique who has now completely spellbound by New Age Movements.
20-JUN-1997
Monique befriends the Deering Family. They are Wiccans. They have ulterior motives (to try to convince the Yavelow's to sell their house and buy a house big enough for for both families) and seem to be able to influence Monique to do anything they please.
20-OCT-1997
Monique makes ongoing promises to Christopher and the children to be more available. Out of frustration Christopher begins keeping statistics for 13 months. Though she does not have a job outside the house, Monique is out the house 63% of the time. During much of that time she is participating in New Age events, rituals, and seminars.
12-JAN-1998
Monique begins to exhibit unusual sexual behavior toward her father, husband, and one daughter. Christopher notices Monique is becoming sexual with one of the children.
Summer-1998
Escalation of Monique’s involvement in Wicca and Satanism through Liduina Deering’s influence.
05-NOV-1998
Monique has been studying Satanism. Perhaps convinced that she will better commune with Satan, Monique moves out of her and Christopher’s shared bedroom exactly 666 days after her mother moved out of her parents’ master bedroom. Coincidentally, this is also less than one week after Christopher had finally obtained permanent residence permits for each family member following the required 5-year waiting period, meaning that Monique was no longer "tied" to Christopher's permit.
18-NOV-1998
Monique attends a Wicca meeting commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Jim Jones cult mass suicide. Monique informs Christopher that “she plans to destroy the family with Liduina’s help.” Later, on learning that daughter Stephanie (then 10) was suicidal about the divorce, Monique takes her to a presentation of all the various methods of suicide and how to succeed in committing suicide.
24-DEC-1998
Continuing her disturbed Satanic emulation of her mother’s death, Monique initiates the final violent conflict of the relationship exactly 666 days after her mother’s death.
04-JAN-1999
Breaking Netherlands criminal law 279, Monique abducts the children into the house of her Wicca “high priestess” for 2 months.
14-JAN-1999
Stephanie escapes from the cult and goes back home to live with her Christopher.
21-JAN-1999
The children write letters to the Dutch court stating clearly that they prefer to live with their father. Dutch law is different than US custody law. There is no such thing as temporary custody. In Holland parents have the right to 50-50 equal custody until the final divorce hearing and the court orders 50-50 parental access for the next two weeks.
29-JAN-1999
Monique files for divorce in Holland.
1-Qrtr-1999
Due to Monique’s violation of the court access orders on several occasions, the children spent only 18 days at home for the first three months of 1999.
20-MAR-1999
Christopher and police intervene at a Wiccan Equinox ritual at Liduina Deering’s house.
01-APR-1999
Child Protection Agency institutes 50-50 access through May 6 and subsequently extends this through July 22.
08-MAY-1999
Monique violates court access orders resulting in Christopher bringing in the police who are powerless because such court orders are not enforceable in the Netherlands. Like most European countries, the Dutch laws have no concept of "contempt of court" or "contempt of a court order."
05-JUN-1999
Monique violates court access orders resulting in Christopher bringing in the Police who are powerless because such court orders are not enforceable in the Netherlands.Like most European countries, the Dutch laws have no concept of "contempt of court" or "contempt of a court order."
22-JUL-1999
(Celina’s Birthday) At Monique’s persistent urging the court orders that starting September 1, 1999, Christopher will only see the children every other Saturday. The judge says the purpose is to “cut the knot” between Christopher and his children. His stated reason is that Christopher asked the children to write to him to express their opinions on the matter (which is their legal right in the Netherlands). The judge’s true motivations are expressed clearly in the subtext: The children are to be removed from Christianity because of the Netherlands’ doctrine of extreme tolerance of New Age Movements and Satanism and their unwritten policies of condoning child molestation, which, coincidentally, were under investigation at that time by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. (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.)
09-AUG-1999
The children arrive for their final three weeks in their family home with their father Christopher.

The United States of America

01-SEP-1999
During a vacation in their home country, the USA, with Christopher, Celina, and Stephanie decide to stay in the United States. The children are aware of the fact that the Dutch courts have been treating them unfairly (according to Dutch law, children’s opinions must be taken into consideration after the age of 10 or 12 and the court’s were refusing to consider the letters they wrote to the judge).
Christopher emails Monique immediately informing her that this is to have a fair custody hearing and to maximize the children’s contact with both parents. There has been no custody hearing up to this point. According to Dutch law, both Christopher and Monique have equal shared custody (temporary custody does not exist in the Netherlands).
08-SEP-1999
Monique convinces the Dutch Central authority that the children were Dutch citizens (not true) and so they started a “Hague Convention” proceeding against the US. She was able to enlist the help of the Netherlands through the testimony of Christopher’s younger brother, Michael Johnson, a recovering alcoholic, who, although not having seen the family for 7 years and having seen them only once for 3 hours for 12 years, finally discovered a way, with a bit of coercion from Monique, through his testimony to vent all his pent-up anger against his older brother.
09-SEP-1999
Christopher and the kids arrive in Pennsylvania where Christopher has dental surgery.
10-SEP-1999
Unbeknownst to Christopher, Celina, and Stephanie, Monique arrives in Maryland and, at an exparte hearing, boldly lies to Judge Hennegan, bringing bogus and unauthenthicated translations of the temporary access arrangement agreements and a Hague Convention return request, telling him she has custody so that he will grant her a Maryland temporary custody order. This, even though Maryland has no legal jurisdiction over the case. Christopher and the children are not notified of the hearing although they are reportedly under photographic surveillance by private detectives, just a couple miles from the courthouse.
Prior to coming to the USA, Monique convinced the Dutch Central authority that the children were Dutch citizens (not true) and so they started a “Hague Convention” proceeding against the US. She was able to enlist the help of the Netherlands through the testimony of Christopher’s younger brother, Michael Johnson, a recovering alcoholic, who, although not having seen the family for 7 years and having seen them only once for 3 hours for 12 years, finally discovered a way, with a bit of coercion from Monique, through his testimony to vent all his pent-up anger against his older brother.
11-SEP-1999
Monique and several officials visit several of our relatives and friends in Maryland looking for Christopher and the kids. No papers are shown and no mention is made of the hearing scheduled for Monday so no word gets back to Christopher and the kids.
Monique involves the NCMEC in search for Christopher and the children. Later Christopher’s FOIA request for documents would reveal that the NCMEC had nothing more than a handwritten form submitted by Monique upon which to base their actions, actions which led to the abduction of Celina and Stephanie from their home country, the United States, and the return of the children, against their wishes, to a dangerous cult in the Netherlands where they are being sexually molested. And which further led to the ruining of Christopher’s career as well as placing him in mortal danger (at Monique’s request the NCMEC fabricated a story about Christopher being armed).
13-SEP-1999
Again, without any notification, Monique has a hearing with judge Hennegan in Maryland. Monique, a psychologically disturbed Swiss citizen and new age cult fanatic living in the Netherlands, parlays the unfounded court rulings into warrants for Christopher Yavelow’s arrest on charges of parental child abduction.
Around this time, the Baltimore Sun starts printing articles about the case. Eventually, there are close to a dozen, all but one by the same reporter. 70% of the statements made in the articles are lies and fabrications of that reporter designed to inflame the situation.
Monique manages to convince NBC, CBS, and ABC to run news items to reinforce her case. She supplies the media with a 6-year-old picture of Christopher before he had cut his hair, designed to make him appear to be a “Charles Manson” type. Similarly, she supplies 6-year-old videos of his 13 and 11 year old daughters at the ages of 4 and 6. This media farce was engineered to give a complete false impression of the situation for the purpose of pushing public sentiment against Christopher.
15-SEP-1999
While visiting the Laura Ingalls Wilder house in Wisconsin, a chance call to Christopher’s mother revealed part of the situation but not much-- only that Monique and some police had come to Christopher’s mother’s house looking for them. Police waiting at their destination prompted the Yavelows to head South.
17-SEP-1999
Settling in Fairhope, Alabama, they began to meet with realtors to find a house. They joined a church. Celina squealed with delight, “We finally have a zipcode!” Christopher took the children to register for school. After the tour of the school, Celina, who has been forced by her mother to attend a new age Anthroposophic cult school in the Netherlands said “this is what I’ve always dreamed of, to go to an American high school... with lockers and everything. This is like a dream come true.”
01-OCT-1999
On what would have been the girls’ first day in school, Christopher notices an article in the Mobile Register indicating that Monique has managed to get the FBI involved in the case. Still living in a rental cottage, the Yavelows decide the best plan is to go to a friend’s house where there is a phone and computer so they can contact a lawyer. They travel to Houston, Texas where a telephone bill of approximately $1,000 attests to the fact that Christopher was actively seeking a lawyer in Maryland.
mid-OCT-1999
Although there are more than 2,000 parental child abductions every day of every year in the USA and although there are more than 3,000 international parental child abductions every year involving the USA, and although there has been no attempt to authenticate any of the documents that Monique brought from the Netherlands in support of this case, the FBI unexplicably places Christopher upon the Ten-Most-Wanted list.
21-OCT-1999
When a half-dozen or so FBI agents arrived, Celina and Stephanie rushed to shield their father, 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 Americans!” The heart-wrenching standoff initiated by the children lasted about 15 minutes while other household members collected medications for Christopher, who is a heart patient. Against their wishes, the children were turned over to Harris County Children’s Protective Service and Christopher was jailed in Harris County jail in Houston for more than 6 days during which at no time was he notified of the charges against him. The only time charges were mentioned was before he got to jail, when he was at the FBI office: five minutes after arriving at their offices, the FBI dropped all charges against him. As of March 29, 2000, nearly 5 months after dropping all charges against him, the FBI’s web-site continued to display him on the Ten-Most-Wanted list.
22-OCT-1999
Monique picks up the children in Houston and pretends to bring them back to Maryland for a hearing as she is required to by a Maryland court order. However, she flees on the first flight to the Netherlands using an extra set of passports (To prevent her from leaving the country, the court had ordered her to turn over to the authorities so she was in contempt of court by retaining this set of passports).
27-OCT-1999
Christopher is released from jail in Texas on $25,000 bail. Legal fees to arrange this release on bail were in excess of $12,000.
28-OCT-1999
TEXAS: Upon orders from Deputy States Attorney, Howard Merker, the FBI arrives where Christopher is staying and, in the presence of his lawyer, Edward Mallett, and the owner of the house, demands Christopher’s passports and the passports of his children, at gun-point! No subpoenas or warrants were provided and, in fact, none existed. The passports were supposed to be kept in a safe in Judge Hennegan’s office until the hearing.
Later, Christopher requested that the passports be returned and was informed that Deputy States Attorney Howard Merker had simply handed over the passports to Susan Elgin, Monique’s attorney in Towson, Maryland. Christopher reported this larceny to the FBI and on March 21, 2000, the FBI agent contacted Christopher saying that Elgin would not reveal any information to them regarding the passports.
MARYLAND: Judge Hennegan publishes statements in the Baltimore Sun making it clear that he had already decided for Monique in the case. This led to motions for him to recuse himself from the case. Eventually, another family court judge is assigned to the case.
02-NOV-1999
NETHERLANDS: At a hearing in the Netherlands, to which Christopher was not invited and to which his children were not allowed to testify (which is their right in the Netherlands), nor was their written testimony considered, Monique is awarded custody of the children, Christopher’s house, all of his possessions, his office including about a quarter-million dollars worth of computer music equipment, and 100% of his future salary. The judge asked Monique if there was anything else she wanted and granted her request that Christopher be stripped of his parental rights and all rights to come within a half mile of his house or office. No reasons were given by either Monique for her requests and none were supplied by the court for their ruling. The Netherlands is a socialist country with a completely different legal standard than the United States.
09-NOV-1999
NETHERLANDS: Monique conducts a special PTA meeting at the cult school which the children attend. She requests that the “wagons be circled around the children” and that no parents or children facilitate any contact between Christopher and his children. She has her phone changed to an unlisted number the same day. Before the meeting, Christopher had received reports from the parents of the children’s school friends that both children were miserable and wished to return to their home country as soon as possible.
end NOV-1999
Friends from our church in the Netherlands bring a big knapsack full of Celina’s and Stephanie’s favorite books and CDs to the Netherlands but there is no way to get the knapsack to the children because they are forbidden to attend church.
29-NOV-1999
Maryland extradition personnel fail to show up at Christopher’s extradition hearing in Texas.
02-DEC-1999
Monique meets with the pastor of Christopher and the children’s church in Holland in an effort to turn the church and the pastor against him.
14-DEC-1999
Christopher returns to Maryland by himself at his own expense having been guaranteed bail of $1500 and a meeting with the bail commissioner on the morning of the 14th of December. Deputy State Attorney Howard Merker postpones the bail hearing until the 15th of December.
15-DEC-1999
Deputy State Attorney Howard Merker postpones the bail hearing until the 20th of December.
18-DEC-1999
Now it becomes obvious (in Christopher’s opinion) why the bail hearings have been postponed: Deputy State Attorney Howard Merker arranges for an article to run on the front page of the Sun emphasizing how he apprehended Christopher by way of the internet (almost a complete lie, by the way).
20-DEC-1999
The State of Maryland makes a large production of handcuffing and mistreated Christopher as he goes to pay his $1,500 bail-bond in Towson, Maryland.
That night during repeated coverage of Christopher’s trip to the bail hearing and continual repeats of pictures of Christopher with long hair and his children at the age of 4 and 6, Howard Merker appears on television stating that the 30-day minimum sentence for international kidnapping (which is not the crime Christopher was charged with, by the way) are too easy and that he will personally make sure that the sentence be increased by the time Christopher gets to trial (a ludicrous promise).
The hearing is set for 14, February, 2000, Christopher and Monique’s wedding anniversary.
24-DEC-1999
After 75 days of no-contact with his children whatsoever, Christopher calls his brother-in-law in Switzerland during the traditional family Christmas dinner and is able to talk briefly with Stephanie. Arrangements are made to talk with Celina on Christmas
25-DEC-1999
Christopher has a brief telephone conversation with Celina.
01-JAN-2000
Christopher receives a brief telephone conversation with Celina and Stephanie. They inform him that they are not even allowed to walk bythe family home.
16-JAN-2000
The children finally receive the knapsack of their CDs and books (60 days after delivery)
29-JAN-2000
Stephanie is able to telephone Christopher for a short conversation because it is her birthday.
02-FEB-2000
Stephanie calls Christopher again.
03-FEB-2000
At a meeting of the lawyers and family court judge (not Hennegan, who was recused from the case after pre-judging it in the Baltimore Sun newspaper on October 28, 1999), the civil case against Christopher was declared moot and dropped.
04-FEB-2000
At a hearing to which Christopher was not invited, Deputy States Attorney Howard Merker entered the case into the inactive “STET” docket. This is customarily done when the state has no hopes of winning a case yet they wish to “save face.” All charges are erased one year later, after additional legal fees in excess of $10,000.
05-FEB-2000
In an attempt to continue to inflame the situation, the Baltimore Sun prints additional lies about Christopher, claiming that the STET docket forbids him to have any contact with his children (an outright and total lie). They send this out on the AP wire. Christopher phones and demands that they print a retraction.
06-FEB-2000
The Sun prints a retraction on page 2 of the Sunday newspaper but because they had sent the story out on the AP wire yesterday, the TV stations are starting to broadcast the lie. Christopher calls the TV stations and at the mention of Richard Jewel’s name, they agree to broadcast retracting statements on the 6-o’clock news.
08-FEB-2000
Christopher’s passport is returned to him. Attempts to retrieve his children’s passports are unsuccessful. Letters from June, 1999, from both children, state that they desire that their father, Christopher, keep their passports at all times.
10-FEB-2000
USA: In a letter to Christopher’s then attorney, Joshua Treem, Susan Elgin refuses to return the children’s passports to Christopher.
NETHERLANDS: Christopher’s children finally receive their “SinterKlaus” day presents (from December 5, 1999)
16-FEB-2000
Upon the advice of the US Department of State, Christopher reports the theft of his daughter’s passports to the FBI.
05-MAR-2000
NETHERLANDS: Kids are finally able to get their Christmas presents (66 days late) and Stephanie’s birthday presents (35 days late).
15-MAR-2000
Christopher reports the abduction of his children to the NCMEC.
19-MAR-2000
NETHERLANDS: The children are allowed to attend their church (once) for the first time in 150 days.
23-MAR-2000
Christopher discovers that Monique has arranged abduction charges against him in the Netherlands. Because these are "secret" charges, Christopher's Dutch lawyer could not verify their existence. Christopher informed the United States Department of State.
28-MAR-2000
Christopher receives FBI notification that Susan Elgin will not disclose any information about the passports of Christopher’s children.
29-MAR-2000
Christopher has had only 3 brief conversations with his daughters in 160 days. Although he has written over 200 emails and dozens of normal-post letters, they are forbidden to access their email and Monique destroys all the mail coming to them by normal post. According to research about abduction cases like this and people involved in Parent-Alienation Syndrome as well as Divorce-Related Malicious Mother Syndrome such as Monique, it is very common for the alienator to destroy all communication between the left-behind parent and the children in an effort to convince the children that the left-behind parent has abandoned them and no longer cares about them. In March, the children were finally allowed to see some of their former American friends. It was clear to all present that Monique had made their father a forbidden topic.
18-JUN-2000
Monique finds a very ingenious way to prevent the children from telephoning on Fathers' day -- she keeps them up until 11:30 PM at a concert so they fall asleep the moment they get back to her apartment.
14-JUL-2000
After repeated requests of the US Department of State, the Dutch prosecutor agrees to drop abduction charges within 14 days so that Christopher can return to the Netherlands
28-JUL-2000
The DOS is notified by the Dutch prosecutor that the abduction charges have been dropped.
31-JUL-2000
Christopher boards the QEII for Europe.
03-AUG-2000
MID-ATLANTIC OCEAN: The DOS inform Christopher that Monique has additional bogus charges filed against him that will result in an INTERPOL arrest if he gets off the boat.
04-AUG-2000
Following a day of phone negotiations, the INTERPOL warrant is dropped.

The Netherlands

08-AUG-2000
Christopher re-enters the Netherlands. Although she hasn't set foot in it for almost 2 years, Fasel refuses to let him into his house with an order allowing the police to use deadly force if he comes near his house. He ends up sleeping in his automobile for 31 days.
14-AUG-2000
Christopher sees his daughters for the first time in 298 days. Monique shouts standard PAS (Parent Alienation Syndrome) rhetoric the entire time. The 20-minute encounter is captured on video. Afterwards, she moves the children around for weeks to keep them away from Christopher.
16-AUG-2000
The custody hearing at the court of appeals in Amsterdam scheduled for this day is postponed until December 7, 2000.
08-SEP-2000
Blackmailed by Monique and her lawyer with a threat that he will never enter his house again, Christopher agrees to drop one of the nine appeal points (the divorce itself), and is allowed to take possession of his house. Going through through the year's worth of mail that Monique had stolen, he discovers that she has run up bills in excess of 30,000 guilders in his hame (approximately $15,000). He also discovers that during his year absence, Monique has not allowed the children to take any of their possessions from the house. She is trying to erase all memories of Christopher and their home country, the United States.
31-OCT-2000
The divorce is entered into the official register in the Hague, thus making it final. Monique's lawyer had already entered the divorce in the register in the Hague at the beginning of January, 1999, however this was subsequently ruled illegal. Because of Monique's involvement with satanism and the fact that this is Halloween, some people have pointed out the irony that this date is exactly 666 days after Monique's initial abduction of the children on January 4, 1999.
07-DEC-2000
The appeals hearing at the Amsterdam Court of Appeals, appealing the November 2, 1999, decision stripping Christopher of his parental rights. Christopher and Monique are given about 5 minutes to speak. A verdict is prommised January 29, 2001. Completely of her own volition, Stephanie has Monique's lawyer deliver a letter to the judges informing them that she will be 12 on January 29 and will "make up her own mind" at that time, as is her right in the Netherlands. She had already made her wishes clear in an earlier letter which the judges had ignored at earlier hearings.
29-JAN-2001
The decision from the Amsterdam court of appeals arrives, upholding the ruling that Christopher no longer has any parental rights, but stating that they will consider restoring some rights of access in early June, 2001, pending an investigation by the Raad voor de Kinderbescherming (Child Protection Agency) and FORA.
29-JAN-2001
(Stephanie's Birthday) Stephanie spends this day, her birthday, phoning the Kinderrechtswinkel ("Children's Rights Shop"), trying to claim her right as a 12-year-old, to choose which parent she would like to live with.
30-JAN-2001
Stephanie finally makes an appointment with the Kinderrechtswinkel, only to have Monique cancel it behind her back on January 31.
01-FEB-2001 thru MAY 2001
Every attempt of Stephanie's to contact the children's rights organizations is blocked by Monique. Monique hides letters from the Kinderrechtswinkel, cancels appointments, schedules other activities during their hours of consultation (open consultations occur only 3 days a week), and blocks all possibilities for Stephanie's transportation to Amsterdam from Haarlem (a long trek for a 12-year-old).
16-FEB-2001
After two years, in the twelfth hearing of this international divorce case, the Haarlem criminal courts vindicate Christopher from all of Monique's existing bogus charges, thus freeing him to "take the gloves off" in the battle to rescue his children.
08-APR-2001
Christopher informs that Child Protection Agency that he will not allow the FORA to become involved with his family after discovering that the organization is under investigation for fabricating findings that have resulted in 12,000 fathers never seeing their children again.
19-APR-2001
Monique fails in her attempt to kill Christopher and Stephanie by forcing Christopher to drive into a concrete pillar.
24-APR-2001
Christopher begins attending hearings caused by Monique's theft of his mail from September 1999 through September 2000 and her creation of debts in his name.
29-APR-2001
Christopher thwarts Monique's attempts to create another autombile tragedy when she tries to throw Stephanie from a moving vehicle.