Tampa, Florida – United States Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez
announces the arrest of Ali Hussein Salamey (37, Tampa) for international
parental kidnapping. If convicted, Salamey faces a maximum penalty of three
years in federal prison. Salamey was arrested on a federal complaint on June
21, 2019, in Atlanta, Georgia as he exited an international flight.
According to the complaint, in July 2018, Salamey, who has
joint citizenship in the United States and Lebanon, fraudulently obtained
Lebanese citizenship and a passport for his then three-year-old son without the
mother’s knowledge or consent and in violation of a family court order. Salamey
obtained Lebanese citizenship and the passport for his child, who was born in
and resided in Tampa, by providing the Lebanese consulate with a fraudulent
family court document that had been altered by Salamey to show Salamey had sole
parental responsibility and custody of the child.
On August 27, 2018, Salamey and the child left the United
States and traveled to Lebanon in violation of a shared custody order. Once he
arrived in Lebanon, Salamey denied the mother access to her child.
As a result of coordination between the FBI, U.S. diplomatic
staff in Lebanon, and the Lebanese government, Salamey agreed on June 20, 2019,
to return to the United States with the child. Salamey and the child flew from
Lebanon through Paris to Atlanta, where Salamey was arrested by the FBI and the
child was reunited with his mother.
A criminal complaint is merely an allegation that a
defendant has committed one or more violations of federal criminal law, and
every defendant is presumed innocent unless, and until, proven guilty.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mandy
Riedel.
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