Hello, everyoneMy name is Sean P. Collins. I am a proud father of a precious little 4-and-a half-year-old boy named
Victor Benicio Cardoso Collins. Victor's mother abducted him from Massachusetts in February of this year and is currently keeping him in Southern Brazil with her parents.
There is not a day, an hour, or even a minute that goes by that I am not thinking of my little boy. Victor is my life. And what scares me the most about the ordeal is not the pain that I am feeling in my heart, or my lack of sleep, or my massive weight gain since February due to stress, or even the cigarettes I am killing myself with, also attributed to stress. But the thought of Victor being alone in a strange new world, without his daddy there at his side to protect him, to tuck him in at night, and to kiss and hug him good morning every single day. I know Victor, he misses his Daddy, but he also misses his Grandma and Grandpa, his uncle, his auntie, his friends, his school, his teacher, his bicycle, his train set, and his daily dose of SpongeBob SquarePants.
I am a new member here at bringseanhome.org/forum. I became aware of Sean and David Goldman's story from my father who was visiting with my brother and I from Florida two months ago. One of my best friends also made me aware of this story as well after my ordeal became a reality.
Since then I have watched various news reports about David's plight. Since that time, I too, have become a victim of a spouse's unfortunate and evil act.
This is a painful experience for my family and for me. I see that there are many of us here suffering from the same ordeal. And I want to let you know that I care about your plight and that I pray for you and your families every day. I am very hopeful and optimistic that we will all be successful at the end of our ordeal. I know each of us have different stories, but hopefully the outcome will be the same for us all: the successful return of our children to their rightful homes.
I also see there are many others here that are assisting the left-behind parents in many kind and thoughtful ways. I think it is great to know there are generous and caring people from all walks of life that will spend their own personal time assisting others while we are in distress. As a left-behind parent I thank you for your kindness and determination and it fills my heart with much needed warmth.
Lastly, before I give you my story, no matter what I am experiencing at the hands of a mother who kidnapped our son to Brazil, I, in no way, shape or form, hold any negative feelings toward Brazilian people or their culturally rich country. I have had the pleasure of spending much time in the beautiful country and I have many lifelong friends from Brazil as well. This is about a parent's wrongdoing and carelessness, and not about one country versus another.
Here is the story on how I lost my son:I currently reside in Uxbridge, MA with my brother since my separation from my wife last November. My wife and I own a house together in the northern Massachusetts town of Townsend, on the Massachusetts / New Hampshire border. When we separated I moved in with my brother down at the bottom of the Bay state, next to the Rhode Island border, in the small town of Uxbridge, MA. Both homes are about 70+ miles apart from one another. The only good thing about the relocation is that I am actually closer to my work in Franklin, MA.
My wife and I both have joint-legal custody of our son Victor, but she has full-physical custody. The court orders were only temporary. We had these filed Pro Se' in December. This was our first step toward a divorce. We didn't want to go into the divorce quickly, one, because neither of us wanted the trauma around the Holiday season, and two, because we once went through a divorce proceeding two years prior, only to call it off at the very last second. We had both hired expensive lawyers that first time, and we didn't want to throw all that money away yet again just in case there was any hope of reconciling a second time.
Sandra Cardoso Collins (my wife) and I have a beautiful four-and-a-half-year-old little boy, Victor. He is an American citizen, born in Massachusetts. My wife is a Portuguese citizen whose parents live in southern Brazil. Neither of her parents are Brazilian citizens. They both hold permanent residencies (Green Cards). They have lived in Brazil for nearly three decades, after emigrating from Portugal in the early 1980's.
Sandra once had a permanent residency in Brazil, but lost it after living outside of the country for over two years. From what I have had explained to me, Brazil frowns upon their permanent residents living abroad for over a two-year period.
Sandra twice attempted to regain her green card in Brazil but was denied each time. I know often she spoke about hiring an attorney to assist her in regaining the card. As of present I am not sure if she is pursuing that course of action.
Nearly five weeks ago she informed me that she was set to go on "vacation" to Brazil. Right from the start I suspected she was leaving the country for good. I asked her several times what her true intentions were via phone and e-mail. Sandra concluded that I was paranoid and she suspected I was trying to start trouble. She threatened that if I did not quit the questioning she would seek help from law enforcement. She would claim that I was harassing her.
Sandra warned me via telephone the night before her departure that if I continued to make her vacation a big deal, it would mean 'war.' And if I wanted 'war,' she was going to give it to me. And I would lose in the end.
The days leading up to the abduction I became increasingly concerned that she was attempting to flee the country with Victor. I saw many warnings signs that she was preparing to leave the country forever. Sandra often spoke of leaving the U.S. for Brazil if she and I were to ever divorce. She explained to me that she had stopped paying her car loan on our family vehicle, which was one warning sign. I also found out through a third party that she had our home phone disconnected and she cancelled her cell phone service as well.
I automatically thought that since she claimed she was only going on vacation for three weeks, and had all of these things cancelled, I knew the vacation excuse must have been a lie. She was leaving the country with finality.
I become worried that she was about to kidnap our son Victor. After much research on the U.S. Government websites, I called the State Department for help.
I saw their info and number listed here:
http://travel.state.gov/family/abduction/emergencies/emergencies_3845.html This was on February 21st, a Saturday. I was instructed to contact my local police station in Uxbridge to report an abduction in progress. They also explained to me that regardless of whether my wife had sole physical custody, since we both shared joint-legal custody, Sandra required my approval and permission and signature to leave the country with our son Victor.
The U.S. State Department also warned me that the Massachusetts State Police could possibly let Sandra leave the country even without the approvals. They were right.
The night of my wife’s departure (February 22nd, 2009) I contacted the State Police at Logan International Airport in Boston. I explained to the officer on duty that The State Department was actively involved in my case. He was very agitated at me over the phone. I detected in his voice that I was either wasting his time or that he thought I was making a big deal out of nothing. He even quipped that, because of my actions that evening, I should consider Sandra to be my "soon to be ex-wife." The State Trooper then informed me that he had detained my wife, our son, and her 19 year-old Brazilian son (from her first marriage, who had lived with us, in our home, for the last three years).
The trooper also requested that I get a copy of a court order from December (the order that detailed the joint-legal custody) faxed to Logan from my town's police department. He wanted me to bring it to the Uxbridge Police Department immediately. I did exactly that. Unfortunately, before I could make it down to the police station the state trooper let my wife go through the gate to board the plane. Sandra boarded the plane and left with our son Victor en route to Brazil. They were gone.
I was now at the Uxbridge Police Department, in the lobby, waiting for the officer. The local Uxbridge police officer informed me that the state trooper had explained to him on the phone that I had no legal right to keep my wife from departing the country. He also told the officer that my actions were in violation of wife’s civil rights. I was informed that since we both have shared legal custody, the state trooper had explained to the Uxbridge police officer that my wife had a legal right to depart for vacation with Victor, even without my consent.
I went to check on our house the day after they left. Sandra had asked me to check on the mail and to make sure the house and everything inside were okay while they were on “vacation.” I was being played with. Because when I arrived at our house, I saw that the inside was completely empty. She left for good! The brand new appliances we had bought the previous fall were all gone. (Note: I later learned she had spent thousands of dollars to ship our things through a company called Fastway Moving. The shipping company caters to Brazilian people moving back home).
http://www.fastwaymoving.com/ .
The State Department contact had told me that if I went to my house and saw that everything was gone, that meant that my wife had definitely abducted Victor. I could figure that out for myself. They also suggested that I contact the Townsend Police Department and report my son’s abduction. Since this is considered the starting point of the abduction. I then followed their instructions and filed a report with the department in Townsend. The State Department also contacted the Townsend Police Department and requested that they enter my son into the NCIC.
Three days after my wife arrived in Brazil she sent an e-mail stating that she wasn’t coming back from vacation. Sandra now said she intended to remain there permanently with our son. I was also warned by Sandra not to make contact with her or my son. I asked about her parents' new telephone number and was given a bogus number instead.
A few days later I received an e-mail from Sandra demanding a check for $25,000. If I couldn't afford the lump sum, I was told I could send monthly payments worth $500. This has my mind boggled. I haven't the clue what the money is for and when I replied with questions, I did not get a response. I have though kept up with the Child Support payments. I send it through Western Union on a bi-weekly basis. I have asked what she is doing with Victor's money, and again, no response. I am now receiving e-mails from her asking to send special gifts for other family members. Designer shoes and what not. Now on top of being horrified that my son has been kidnapped, I am now confused about all these new demands and requests. A good amount of all of this makes no sense at all.
I want to take this time to say thank you, to all, for reading what I had to say and letting me share my story with you. And I would like to give a very special thanks to Mr. Devon Davenport and Mr. Timothy Weinstein for their generosity and assistance and guidance. I appreciate it all greatly.
SeanSeanPCollins@yahoo.com
