A Massachusetts couple is dealing with critical expenses after allegedly kidnapping their 5 kids, who had been positioned within the custody of the Massachusetts Division of Youngsters and Households (DCF).
Isael Rivera, 31, and Ruth Encarnacion, 30, had been positioned by Fitchburg Police in early March, after a multi-state manhunt.
The couple is accused of taking the kids throughout state traces in an try to evade DCF intervention.
Authorities consider the household fled Massachusetts shortly earlier than the state tried to implement youngster protecting measures, in accordance with WCVB 5.
Rivera, the organic father of 4 of the 5 kids, was arraigned final week in Fitchburg District Court docket. A not-guilty plea was entered on his behalf, and he’s at present being held with out bail, WHDH reported.
Encarnacion, the mom of all 5 kids, is scheduled to be arraigned this week and faces 5 counts of kidnapping a minor by a relative. A not-guilty plea has additionally been entered on her behalf.
In response to regulation enforcement, the household went lacking simply as DCF ready to take away the kids from Encarnacion’s care on February 27.
Encarnacion’s sister reported her lacking days afterward March 3, citing an absence of contact since February 26. DCF formally reported the 5 kids lacking on March 5, triggering a state and federal search.
Court docket paperwork point out that DCF had opened a case towards the couple in February after a pediatrician flagged indicators of neglect involving the youngest youngster, a 9-month-old.
DCF intervened shortly thereafter, however by then, the household had reportedly left Massachusetts.
In response to unconfirmed stories, they instructed their pediatrician they had been skipping vaccines for his or her child.
Boston Broadside reported:
The mother and father, who homeschool their kids, acknowledged to their pediatrician that they had been against their new child receiving the photographs based mostly on their sincerely held non secular beliefs. Regardless of citing non secular exemptions that are regulation in Massachusetts, the daddy, Isael Rivera is being held in Worcester County Jail on a $200,000 bond or 20K money bail, whereas the couple’s 5 kids have reportedly been taken into custody by Little one Protecting Providers (CPS).
“This can be a blatant violation of basic rights on a number of ranges,” says Ron Bouchard, Constitutional Legislation Strategist. “By what authority has this household been apprehended and for what? Was there a warrant? What’s familial kidnapping? A household has the appropriate to journey with their kids. How and why have they been reported lacking, and by whom? What legal guidelines have they damaged and what imminent hazard exists to justify the drastic motion of DCF and the Fitchburg Police Division traumatizing this household by tearing it aside?”
The ordeal started when the household’s pediatrician, a compulsory reporter, threatened to report them to DCF after the mother and father declined vaccinations for his or her toddler throughout a wellness test.
“The physician stated if we didn’t vaccinate, he’d should report us,” the daddy, “Izzy” Rivera, allegedly instructed an advocate who offered protected harbor for the household in Texas. “Regardless of assurances that their child was well-fed, cared for, and thriving, DCF quickly left a discover on their door demanding a house go to. Fearing for his or her household, the mother and father refused, citing their rights.”
What adopted was a dramatic escalation. Fitchburg police, on the course of Leominster DCF allegedly surrounded their house, banging on doorways and circling the property for as much as half-hour. “Ruth Encarnacion hid within the closet together with her 5 kids,” stated the nice samaritan who assisted the household over their 3 week exile. In response to her account of what the household instructed her, with police and DCF returning in larger numbers the following day, Rivera was additionally pressured to cover, whereas his spouse and kids fled from Fitchburg.
The kids—ages 10, 9, 5, 4, and 9 months—had been finally discovered unhurt in Whitney, Texas, and are actually within the custody of Texas Little one Protecting Providers pending additional investigation.
Extra from Worcester Telegram & Gazette:
Lawyer Kevin Carl Larson countered that Encarnacion had “acted in the most effective curiosity of her kids” and was “defending her kids.”
Though she had earlier fled to Texas, Larson stated Encarnacion isn’t a flight danger and stated she isn’t going wherever with out her kids.
Larson stated authorities lack possible trigger to cost his shopper. He stated Encarnacion was not current for the care and safety listening to and that she was not conscious of any court docket order.
