Athlete Says He Will Fight to Stay Here

A 6-foot-11 basketball player ensnared in an international custody dispute said Wednesday he wants to remain in Orange County and play for Villa Park High.

Martin Iti, a 17-year-old sophomore, withdrew from classes Friday at the direction of his mother, who arranged for him to fly home to Australia. But Iti never boarded the Sydney-bound plane and said Wednesday that he plans to fight his mother’s wishes by staying with his local guardian and re-enrolling at school.

“Right now I’m happy with the school situation and playing ball,” Iti said. “I’m comfortable with this. I’d like to stay here and play at Villa Park.”

For now, though, Iti is caught between sides that accuse the other of failing to keep the boy’s best interests at heart.

Iti’s local guardian, Courtney Rosegreen of Orange, said his attorney plans to file a petition in Orange County Superior Court today seeking to keep custody of Iti. The first hearing on Iti’s fate is expected to be held in 30 days, attorney Ronald E. Lais said.

Iti’s mother, Legine Lovinia Paraita, issued a written statement Wednesday claiming that Iti has “suffered mental abuse as well as brainwashing” while in Rosegreen’s custody. She demanded that Iti be returned to Australia immediately so she can “assess his progress and determine his academic future.”

She accused Rosegreen and others of only caring about her son’s basketball talents.

“If my son was a 4-11 Australian citizen in America, he would be on the next plane home,” Paraita said. “I am sick and tired of you people using my son as if he is a piece of meat. Send my son home.”

Paraita alleges in the statement that Rosegreen abused Iti by locking him in a room and throwing food from the trash in his face. She also alleges that Rosegreen used scare tactics to prevent Iti from returning home, telling Iti that he would go to juvenile jail if he attempted to leave and would never again be able to play basketball in the United States.

Iti came to Rosegreen’s defense Wednesday, saying none of the alleged incidents took place. “None of that happened,” Iti said from Lais’ office, where he cradled his dog Shaq. “He never abused me.”

Rosegreen also denied the charges made by Iti’s mother, and said he cared deeply for the teenager.

“That’s crazy,” Rosegreen said of the allegations. “I never would do anything like that. I always let him make his own decisions, and I treat him like he was my own son.”

Rosegreen originally was appointed guardian more than two years ago when Iti came to the United States seeking to hone his basketball skills and his academics. It was an arrangement set up through a friend of Paraita’s.

Rosegreen, who was living in Las Vegas at the time, traveled to Australia to meet Iti and his mother before volunteering to be his guardian.

“I’ve been taking care of him for the last two and a half years,” Rosegreen said. “I’ve bonded with him.”

Ed Smith, a friend of Paraita’s, said Iti’s mother became concerned after reading an article detailing her son’s April 25 transfer to Villa Park from Servite, his fourth transfer in two years. Iti had not informed his mother of the move, Smith said, which raised suspicions.

Smith said in a phone interview from Australia that Paraita, a Catholic, was also upset that Iti was leaving Servite, a private Catholic school.

Iti said the transfer was triggered by academic difficulties at Servite, but that his grades improved in the brief time he attended Villa Park.

Smith is now coordinating the effort to bring Iti back to Australia. Paraita, who lives in a suburb of Sydney, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Paraita recently filed paperwork establishing Smith’s sister, Nadja Bonhomme, and her husband, Ed, as Iti’s guardians and rescinding Rosegreen’s custody.

Last week, Nadja Bonhomme traveled from her home in Mount Rainier, Md., to Southern California in an attempt to put Iti on a flight to Australia. Orange County sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to Villa Park High Friday to review Bonhomme’s documents and Iti was formally dropped from the school roll.

Bonhomme drove Iti to Los Angeles International Airport, where he was supposed to board an Air New Zealand flight to Sydney.

But about an hour before the plane was to depart, Rosegreen arrived and summoned airport police, who examined both parties’ documents. Iti said authorities asked him whether he wanted to take the flight.

“I said, ‘I don’t want to go,’ ” said Iti, who then left the airport with Rosegreen.

Iti said he wants to discuss his future with his mother but doesn’t feel the need to go to Australia to do so “at this point.”

Iti said he last spoke with his mother Friday while at Villa Park High. Iti has not been home since his arrival in the United States, but last year his mother visited him in Southern California.

Iti turns 18 on Feb. 28, at which point he will be able to make his own decisions regarding his future. But for the next nine months, Iti’s fate may be up to an Orange County judge.

Lais, Rosegreen’s attorney, said his client’s motivation in filing the petition for guardianship is simple: to allow Iti “to be where he wants to be. We’re hopeful . . . that everybody will focus on Martin’s needs, Martin’s desires and let this young man stabilize. That’s what he really needs. He needs to stabilize.”

More immediately, Lais said, he wants Iti to return to classes. The Orange Unified School District has been alerted to the custody dispute in the hopes authorities will allow the young man to return to classes for the remainder of the school year, Lais said.

Iti, a center, averaged 12 points and 7.6 rebounds per game for Servite last season. He previously attended a school in the Denver area, then moved to Cardinal Gibbons High in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He said his 1998-99 season was cut short by a knee injury.

Iti came to Southern California to play for a traveling team coached by Bob Gottlieb and then enrolled at Servite.

Since he was removed from school, Iti said, he has spent the last several days reading books and watching television at home. He said it has been difficult to deal with all the controversy.

“I just take it day by day,” he said. “It is hard, though.”