A transgender-identifying Utah man kidnapped his child from the child’s biological mother during a custody dispute and fled to Cuba, possibly to seek “gender reassignment surgery prior to puberty,” according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Utah.
Eri Ethington, 42, and Carly Ann Crosby, 32, took the 10-year-old boy from Utah to Canada, then to Mexico in late March, and then to Cuba on April 1, authorities said.
‘We are grateful to law enforcement for working swiftly to return the child to the biological mother.’
The child was supposed to be returned to the custody of his biological mother after a camping trip but never returned. So the mother obtained a court order from a Utah state court for the child to be returned to her and that granted her exclusive custody of the boy.
The boy’s family grew concerned that Ethington, the boy’s trans-identifying father, and Crosby, Ethington’s reportedly “nonbinary” romantic partner, might be manipulating the boy to undergo transgender transition surgery in Cuba.
The boy was born male but identifies as female, the U.S. Attorney’s Office press release said.
On April 16, Cuban officials located the couple and the boy in Cuba.
Ethington and Crosby were deported from Cuba to the U.S. with the aid of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and charged in federal court with international parental kidnapping.
The child was returned to his biological mother.
“We are grateful to law enforcement for working swiftly to return the child to the biological mother,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa Holyoak said in a statement included with the release.
Ethington had run a popular political blog about Utah and now identifies as Rose Inessa-Ethington. Crosby also uses the name Blue Inessa-Ethington, according to the press release.
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NPR cited a spokesperson for the Logan City Police who said they were not initially aware about the transgender surgery concerns and had focused on the custody dispute. That report also said transgender surgeries are banned for children in Cuba.
“Our priority in every parental kidnapping case is the safety and well-being of the child,” said Special Agent in Charge Robert Bohls of the Salt Lake City FBI. “This case reflects the strength of partnerships in locating victims, supporting reunification, and ensuring accountability.”
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