TAMPA, Fla. — A Tampa father accused of kidnapping his own son and taking the child to Lebanon has been formally charged.
Ali Hussein Salamey, 37, is charged with international parental kidnapping. If convicted, he could face up to three years in federal prison.
Dexter, now 4 years old, was recently reunited with his mom, Rachelle Smith. Smith and Dexter landed Friday back in Tampa.
Salamey was arrested on June 21 in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was getting off an international flight.
Prosecutors say Salamey, who has joint citizenship, fraudulently obtained Lebanese citizenship and a passport for his then 3-year-old son and brought the child to the Middle East in August 2018 without the mom's consent and in violation of a family court order.
"Salamey obtained Lebanese citizenship and the passport for his child, who was born in and resided in Tampa, by providing the Lebanese consulate with a fraudulent family court document that had been altered by Salamey to show Salamey had sole parental responsibility and custody of the child," United States Attorney Maria Chapa Lopez explained in a statement.
Once Salamey got to Lebanon, prosecutors say he denied the mom access to her son. The FBI and U.S. diplomatic staff coordinated with the Lebanese government to get Salamey to agree to return to the U.S. earlier this month.
"Salamey and the child flew from Lebanon through Paris to Atlanta, where Salamey was arrested by the FBI and the child was reunited with his mother," Lopez said.
What other people are reading right now:
►Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the 10News app now.
Have a news tip? Email desk@wtsp.com, or visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.