2004 Media Releases:

CAMDEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE
VINCENT P. SARUBBI, CAMDEN COUNTY PROSECUTOR
MEDIA   INFORMATION

February 27, 2004

Camden County Prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi and Gloucester Township Police Chief John Stollsteimer reported today that a 22-year-old woman from Gloucester Township is charged with Kidnapping and a related offense, accused of attempting to flee to her native Estonia with her 3-year-old son to "permanently deprive" the boy's father of custody in violation of a New Jersey court's order.

Karin Linde-Guerrero is being held at the Camden County Correctional Facility in lieu of $100,000 bail. Her last known address was in the Fountainview Village Apartments in the 1500 block of Little Gloucester Road in the Blackwood section of Gloucester Township. In addition to Kidnapping, a first-degree charge carrying a maximum 30 years imprisonment upon conviction, Linde-Guerrero is charged with Interference with Custody, a second-degree charge carrying a maximum 10-year prison term.

The arrest warrant alleges that Linde-Guerrero took the boy out of New Jersey without advance notice to the father in violation of a May 23, 2003, order by Superior Court Judge Octavia Melendez.

The defendant left the United States on Feb. 12, 2004, investigation reveals. Through a friend of the defendant's, investigators were able to determine that she had flown with the boy to London. During a phone conversation from London on Feb. 13, Linde-Guerrero allegedly told a Gloucester Township police officer that she was going to Estonia with the child and not returning.

Local law enforcement officials worked with London authorities to have Linde-Guerrero apprehended in London, where she was visiting friends, before she could leave on a flight to Estonia. Her passport was confiscated along with the boy's. Working with a London court, the boy's father arranged to have the defendant and the boy flown back to Philadelphia from London Gatwick Airport.

The defendant returned to the United States on Thursday, Feb. 26, 2004, through Philadelphia International Airport. She was arrested at approximately 4 p.m. at the Pennsauken Police Department, where she had arranged with the boy's father for a visit. The defendant and the boy's father, who were not married, had previously agreed on the police station as the location to transfer the boy for visits and had previously used that location for that purpose.

The boy was returned to the custody of his father, a Delaware resident. No court appearances are scheduled for the defendant at this time.

All persons charged with criminal offenses are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.