Mother Says She Kidnapped Daughter To Protect HerPOSTED: 4:01 pm EST November 9, 2006
UPDATED: 6:29 pm EST November 9, 2006
LEBANON -- The mother accused of kidnapping her daughter from Oregon and bringing her here to the Tri-State was in court Thursday with her husband.
Regina and Kary Tiel admit they took Regina’s daughter without permission, fled from Washington and started a new life here, even changing the girl's name.
But the couple told News 5 in an exclusive interview why they felt so desperate and why a case is now being reopened on the other end of the country.
"We had a very nice life and there's only one thing that made us leave and that was to protect Brittany," Kary Tiel said "No parent should have to stand at that crossroad, to make a decision as to whether to break the law or to protect their precious child,” Regina Tiel told News 5’s Karin Johnson. “That’s not a decision that a parent should have to make and Brittany was so happy. She was so glad to be away from that man."
That man is Charles Ard, Brittany’s father. He flew in from Washington state to be reunited with his biological daughter last week.
"She has told people, she has drawn pictures and she has been trying to communicate that he is doing these things to her and no one will listen. We keep trying and it's not enough. I don't, I don't know what we have to do," Regina Tiel said.
But Washington's children protection services agency said it found no evidence.
When Ard was granted unsupervised visits, things got worse, she said.
"We gave him four or five unsupervised visitations with catastrophic results, many awful things happened. The teacher even called us from school to pick her up," Regina Tiel said.
After that, the Tiels said they had no other choice but to run.
Judge Joseph Kirby didn't see it that way on Thursday as he sentenced the Tiels to six months in the county jail.
But he did suspend all but 45 days of the sentence, meaning the Tiels have 38 days to go.
"We’ve tried every avenue, every legal avenue, I assure you, and we really just need the help of everybody," Regina Tiel said.
Tiel said she worries about what’s happening to Brittany while she’s in jail.
"She’s an amazing little girl and she's in a very dangerous place right now," Regina Tiel said.
Friends have created a Web site to help spread the word on the Tiels story.
Family attorneys told News 5 that the children protection services have reopened the case.
Mother Says She Took Daughter To Keep Her From Abusive Father