No Jail for Father in Kidnapping

A man who abducted his two daughters 20 years ago, told them their mother was dead and made a new life for them under assumed names in Florida pleaded guilty Friday to kidnapping and was sentenced to probation and a $100,000 fine.

Stephen Fagan, who could have gotten 20 years in prison, struck a plea bargain that called for five years of probation.

Answering mostly yes-or-no questions from the judge, Fagan, 57, acknowledged taking the girls from his ex-wife, Barbara Kurth, without her permission during what was supposed to be a weekend visit in 1979.

The daughters, now 25 and 22, have stood by their father even after they learned last year that their mother is alive and that their names were changed. They have refused to meet with their mother.

The hearing marked the first time that Kurth, Fagan and their daughters were in the same room since he kidnapped the girls, then 2 and 5.

Kurth Says Murder Might Have Been Better

Prosecutors said Kurth, 49, approved the plea agreement. Even so, she said in a statement: “Some days I believe that Stephen Fagan would have been kinder to really have murdered me rather than having done so only in the minds of my children--at least then there would have been no question as to his punishment.”

In addition to the probation, Fagan was ordered to perform 2,000 hours of community service in a Florida veterans hospital and pay $100,000 to a Boston children’s charity selected by Kurth.

“This has been a tragic, difficult and wrenching case for everyone who has been victimized by Mr. Fagan’s unlawful conduct,” Judge Peter Lauriat said.

Fagan told the children their mother died in a car wreck. He claimed she was neglectful and an alcoholic, and that he needed to rescue them. At the time, he said, courts didn’t look kindly on a father seeking custody.

“I was raised in a home where the best interests of the children always came first. They still do,” Fagan said outside court. “This has always been about Rachael and Lisa, for me. Nothing and no one else.”

Kurth, who was divorced from Fagan in 1978, has denied she was unfit and said she was suffering from narcolepsy, an illness that causes sudden, deep sleep.

The former lawyer was living under the name Dr. William Martin when he was arrested in his Palm Beach, Fla., mansion last year. Authorities caught up with him after Massachusetts State Police got a tip that he was living in Florida.

By the time he was arrested, Fagan had married a prosperous developer, was driving expensive cars and was a member of some of the most exclusive clubs in Palm Beach. He had fabricated a past that included a stint as a presidential advisor, chemist and CIA agent.

He admitted on the stand Friday that he hasn’t held a job since he left Massachusetts, where he was a supervisor at the Harvard Law School Legal Aid bureau.

His daughters, Rachael and Lisa Martin, thanked their father in court for what they considered his sacrifices.

“We do not feel victimized by our father,” Rachael Martin said. “We are convinced that his actions were from his heart.”

Kurth, who has remarried and is a biologist at the University of Virginia, has been unsuccessful thus far in reuniting with her daughters. While she sat with her mother and brother at one end of the courtroom Friday, the daughters sat with Fagan’s current wife at the other.

“Those girls, we feel nothing but pity for them,” said Kurth’s brother, Peter Kurth. “They are pathetically deluded and they are going to pay for it the rest of their lives. We wish them well. They’re going to need it.”

Daughters Deny They Were Duped

At a news conference, the daughters said their father did not dupe them and said any reconciliation with their mother would be private. “We’re clearly not brainwashed,” Rachael Martin said. “We’ve been raised and live our lives as independent women.”

Legal experts questioned whether prosecutors sent the wrong message by allowing Fagan to avoid prison.

“Kidnapping is a very serious offense,” said Wendy Murphy, a former prosecutor who heads the Victim Advocacy and Research Group, “and it’s not less serious because a parent commits the act.”