NORFOLK, Va. — A woman who used to live in Virginia Beach has been sentenced to two years in prison for international parental kidnapping.
Federal prosecutors said that 32-year-old Kathleen Shehadeh had joint custody of her daughter with her ex-husband.
According to court documents, in July of 2018 Shehadeh fled Virginia Beach with her daughter, who was 2 years old at the time. They traveled to Mexico City, then Bogota, Colombia, before finally arriving in Spain.
Shehadeh then wrote a letter to the father claiming they had in fact moved out what and would provide an address once they had settled in. The father then did not hear from Shehadeh or know of his daughter's whereabouts for over two years.
Prosecutors said the father finally tracked down his ex-wife and daughter to Tenerife, Spain, in August of 2020. Shehadeh was arrested by Spanish authorities on a federal warrant and later waived extradition to return to the United States.
She later pleaded guilty the following August.
