A man was able to kidnap his 10-year-old son after showing police false documents from Mexico that said he was the legal guardian of the boy.

Nearly two months after the boy was handed to his father, Jean Philippe Lacombe, police have issued an arrest warrant for Lacombe, who is facing charges for kidnapping, perjury, and interference with child custody.

When Lacombe’s marriage to the boy’s mother, Berenice Diaz, began to dissolve in 2005, Lacombe was originally granted custody in Mexico City, where the couple lived.  However, because Lacombe failed to abide by the visitation rules, custody was eventually granted to Diaz.  Ever since, Diaz and Lacombe have been involved in a bitter child custody battle.

Diaz told reporters that in 2005 Lacombe took the boy to France, and that she spent two years fighting to get him back.  She eventually moved to the United States because she thought it would protect her from Lacombe, who has French and Mexican citizenship.  Now she fears she will never see her son again.  Diaz says Lacombe is a millionaire who recently married a Russian woman, so her son could be anywhere.

“I thought in the United States, nothing like this would happen to me,” Diaz told reporters.

But Diaz isn’t the only parent involved in an international custody battle.  A Tennessee man recently made headlines when he flew to Japan to try and bring home his two children, who were taken by their Japanese-born mother from their Tennessee home, only to be detained by Japanese officials. This was in spite of the fact that the man had been granted custody by a U.S. judge. Countless other parents have gone through and are currently involved in custody battles in which their child has been whisked away to foreign countries by a parent who is a national of another country. And because there are no international child custody laws established, it is often a long and difficult battle to get these children back into the United States.

If you going through a similar situation, please do not hesitate to contact Jacksonville child custody lawyer Scott Ellerin today for experienced and dedicated legal counsel and representation you can depend on!