Father Awarded $100,000 in Suit : Government Hid Children for 2 Years in Witness Program

A man whose two children were taken by federal marshals and hidden with their mother and her boyfriend for nearly two years under the Federal Witness Protection Program has won a $100,000 settlement from the government.

The 10-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter of Robert Salmeron, along with Salmeron’s ex-wife and her boyfriend, who was a witness in a drug and racketeering trial against members of the Hells Angels motorcycle gang, were taken from their grandmother’s home in Richmond to another state.

Salmeron’s case is one of several suits against the government for hiding children from one parent while the whereabouts of the other parent are being concealed under the witness protection program.

That plan, created by a 1970 law, provides new homes and identities for witnesses in federal trials whose lives may be in danger.

In one such case, which inspired the movie “Hide in Plain Sight,” the father’s lawsuit was dismissed. But several other parents have won settlements. One such case in Washington, D.C., was settled two weeks ago for about $150,000 including legal fees, said Patrick Bupara, an assistant U.S. attorney involved in Salmeron’s case.

Salmeron’s divorce suit against his wife, Susan, was pending at the time the children disappeared. A judge granted the divorce five days later, awarding him custody.

Court records indicate the children were taken from their grandmother’s home by marshals the same day in August, 1979, that the government released Susan Salmeron and her boyfriend, Mikel Jennings, from a county jail.

It was not clear why the government kept the children in the program after their father was awarded custody.

Susan Salmeron called her former husband on the day the children disappeared to tell him she had the youngsters, but she provided no details. Salmeron contacted the district attorney, who referred him to federal authorities. He learned from a federal official in 1980 that the children were in the protection program.

It was not until May, 1981, that Salmeron’s attorney got a call from the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington saying that the children would be returned if Salmeron would agree to drop his suit.

He agreed, but after the children were returned, Salmeron sued for damages. U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti ruled that the agreement was valid, but the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said Salmeron should have a chance to prove that he had agreed involuntarily under duress.

If Salmeron is telling the truth, the court said, his children “were being concealed from him as virtual hostages,” despite rules in the witness program requiring authorities to honor custody orders. The evidence suggested that the government “recognized the impropriety of using the Witness Protection Program to relocate children in derogation of parental rights,” the court said.

Under the terms of the settlement, in which the government does not admit wrongdoing, Salmeron will receive $95,000. His children, who are living temporarily with their mother in Arkansas, will get $2,500 each.