Father Pleads Not Guilty to Abducting Daughter

A man accused of abducting his daughter from Southern California and taking her to Rome pleaded not guilty in federal court Monday to a charge of kidnapping his child across international borders.

Carlo Alberto Ventre, 51, will go on trial Feb. 29 on a charge of international parental kidnapping in the alleged abduction of Santina Ventre, now 4 years old. If convicted, he could face three years in prison.

Attorneys for both sides refused to comment on the arraignment.

Prosecutors allege that Ventre abducted his daughter, then 2, in January 1998 during a bitter custody dispute. Toni Dykstra, the girl’s mother, followed the two to Ventre’s apartment in Rome in July 1998, and was found dead soon afterward.

Ventre claims he killed his wife in self-defense when she attacked him with an ax. Italian authorities have been investigating the case.

In early November, an Italian court ruled the custody battle should be decided by Los Angeles courts. Since then, Santina has been in the custody of her mother’s parents in San Pedro. On Dec. 19, Ventre returned to Los Angeles in an attempt to regain custody of the child, at which time police arrested him. He was released on $100,000 bond to his brother in Las Vegas.

According to Gloria Allred, attorney for the Dykstra family, Ventre’s criminal case will likely have little impact on the ongoing custody dispute.

A civil hearing on custody will is scheduled in Los Angeles County Superior Court for Jan. 27.

Currently, Ventre has no custody or visitation rights, and may not telephone his daughter, Allred said.

“We still want Justice for Toni,” she said.

“We still want there to be a prosecution in Italy, and we would like Santina to stay with her grandparents where she’s loved, secure and happy.”