Feb. 10, 2005.
Mother sentenced for son's abduction
Gets 2 months for taking boy in 1989
Teen said to have found name online
JOHN COTTER
JOHN COTTER
CANADIAN PRESS
RED DEER, Alta.—An Alberta woman whose son was said to have discovered he was a missing child when he Googled his name on the Internet will serve jail time for child abduction.
Gisele Marie Goudreault, 46, was convicted last month of taking her son Orey out of Canada in May 1989 just as his father was to be granted sole custody of the boy.
Goudreault showed no emotion yesterday as assistant chief Judge David Plosz sentenced her to two months in jail.
"Clearly this crime must be denounced," Plosz said in provincial court. "She created this sad affair by fleeing to, not one, but two foreign countries."
During the trial, court heard Goudreault gave birth to Orey and raised the boy for 18 months before his father, Rod Steinmann, learned he had a son. The couple never married.
Steinmann, 42, won custody after a judge ruled he had stronger family ties in the central Alberta area. Rather than hand over her baby, Goudreault fled with him to Mexico and then to California, where she found work and was married twice. One marriage ended in divorce and the other was annulled.
The case made international headlines last February when Goudreault was arrested in her Los Angeles-area home. A member of the Missing Children Society of Canada said at the time the youth had been playing on a school computer in 2003 when he discovered his past and told a teacher who tipped authorities.
But Goudreault's lawyer, Markham Silver, has refuted reports that the young man, who is now 18, learned he was missing on the Internet. Silver said Goudreault told her son when he was 9 years old about his father.
Silver said yesterday he had filed appeals of both Goudreault's conviction and sentence. She was granted bail last night. The motions are to be heard June 6.
The lawyer said Goudreault is obviously disappointed with the sentence and the whole case is a sad one.
"The Steinmann family has a son they are not acquainted with. The son doesn't have a father figure, and his mother is now incarcerated many miles away from where he is."
After Goudreault moved to the Los Angeles area she worked as an administrative assistant for a school district and has since applied to become a U.S. citizen.
Following her arrest, she was held in a U.S. jail for four months and then extradited to Canada.
Steinmann was not in court for the sentencing. He has spoken with his son on the phone, but they haven't seen each other since 1989.
Gisele Marie Goudreault, 46, was convicted last month of taking her son Orey out of Canada in May 1989 just as his father was to be granted sole custody of the boy.
Goudreault showed no emotion yesterday as assistant chief Judge David Plosz sentenced her to two months in jail.
"Clearly this crime must be denounced," Plosz said in provincial court. "She created this sad affair by fleeing to, not one, but two foreign countries."
During the trial, court heard Goudreault gave birth to Orey and raised the boy for 18 months before his father, Rod Steinmann, learned he had a son. The couple never married.
Steinmann, 42, won custody after a judge ruled he had stronger family ties in the central Alberta area. Rather than hand over her baby, Goudreault fled with him to Mexico and then to California, where she found work and was married twice. One marriage ended in divorce and the other was annulled.
The case made international headlines last February when Goudreault was arrested in her Los Angeles-area home. A member of the Missing Children Society of Canada said at the time the youth had been playing on a school computer in 2003 when he discovered his past and told a teacher who tipped authorities.
But Goudreault's lawyer, Markham Silver, has refuted reports that the young man, who is now 18, learned he was missing on the Internet. Silver said Goudreault told her son when he was 9 years old about his father.
Silver said yesterday he had filed appeals of both Goudreault's conviction and sentence. She was granted bail last night. The motions are to be heard June 6.
The lawyer said Goudreault is obviously disappointed with the sentence and the whole case is a sad one.
"The Steinmann family has a son they are not acquainted with. The son doesn't have a father figure, and his mother is now incarcerated many miles away from where he is."
After Goudreault moved to the Los Angeles area she worked as an administrative assistant for a school district and has since applied to become a U.S. citizen.
Following her arrest, she was held in a U.S. jail for four months and then extradited to Canada.
Steinmann was not in court for the sentencing. He has spoken with his son on the phone, but they haven't seen each other since 1989.
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