August 27, 2013
Victim Found in Southern Nevada
Las Vegas, NV – Nevada Attorney General Catherine Cortez Masto announced today her office was successful in locating and recovering a three year old boy abducted from Sweden.
“I am pleased that our Missing and Exploited Children’s Unit helped return this child,” said Masto. “We will continue to do all we can to quickly and safely reunite missing children with their parents or rightful guardians.”
The child’s parents, Anastasija Juarez AKA Anastasjia Mitrofanova, 29, originally from Tajikistan, and Damian Juarez, 29 originally from Argentina had a joint child custody agreement issued from Sweden.
The mother of the child, Anastasija, unlawfully left Sweden with the child in or about November 2012. Prior to fleeing the jurisdiction of Sweden, Anastasija represented to the Swedish court that she had no plans to leave the country, but then shortly after fled Sweden with the child.
The Swedish court entered a custody order granting Damian sole custody in June 2013. Due to the abduction of the child, Swedish authorities filed criminal charges against Anastasija. A Europe-wide arrest warrant was issued and added to Interpol, the international database.
The Attorney General filed a proceeding for the return of the child under a statute it had sponsored during the 2011 legislative session regarding warrants for the return of missing children.
The warrant to recover the child, issued by Clark County Family Court, was executed on August 23. The child was safely recovered by investigators and placed into protective custody. A post recovery hearing on the warrant was conducted on August 27 before Judge Teuton, who ordered the child be returned to Sweden and his father’s custody.
The investigation in Nevada has been assisted by Damian’s Swedish attorney, Lisen Aulin Barnekow, the U.S. Department of State, and the Embassy of Sweden in Washington, D.C.
The case was prosecuted by Victor Schulze, Senior Deputy Attorney General, the Nevada State Children’s Advocate.
The Nevada Clearinghouse for Missing and Exploited Children was established to assist in the effort to locate and recover missing and exploited children, and to reunify families.
###