NEW ORLEANS — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)), published as received.
NEW ORLEANS – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that KIDUS AWLACHEW, age 32, a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana, was charged today in a one-count bill of information with international parental kidnapping, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1204. The charge stems from AWLACHEW allegedly retaining a child in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, with the intent to obstruct the lawful exercise of another person’s parental rights.
If convicted, AWLACHEW faces up to three years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000.00, up to one year of supervised release after imprisonment, and a mandatory $100 special assessment fee.
U. S. Attorney Evans reiterated that a bill of information is merely a charge and that the guilt of the defendant must be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc. For more information about internet safety education, please visit www.usdoj.gov/psc and click on the tab “resources.”
U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in this matter. Assistant United States Attorney Jordan Ginsberg is in charge of the prosecution.
