Former Clovis mom facing up to 5 years for plot to send teen to Christian school
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Federal jury convicted former Clovis mother for violating interstate protection order.
- Co-defendant Julio Sandoval acquitted; attorney argued he acted on provided information.
- Judge set sentencing for April 27, 2026; prosecutors urged custody, judge denied.
A mother who used to live in Clovis and arranged to have her 16-year-old taken against his will to a Christian boarding school in Missouri could spend the next five years in a federal prison.
Shana Gaviola, who now lives in Florida, was found guilty this week of an interstate violation of a protection order. Her co-defendant Julio Sandoval, 43, was acquitted. He was also facing a five-year sentence.
Gaviola is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour on April 27. She faces a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
After the verdict, federal prosecutors urged the judge to place Gaviola in custody until her sentencing . He disagreed.
Said her attorney, George T. Pallas of Miami: “We’re grateful the judge recognized that Shana poses no flight risk . ... She’ll now remain home with her children while we prepare compelling mitigation to present to the court in April.”
Sandoval’s attorney, federal public defender Griffin Estes, was thankful the jury understood his client’s role in the incident.
“ Their verdict is a just outcome of Julio’s case, confirming what we’ve known all along: Julio thought he was doing the right thing with the information the co-defendant gave him,” Estes said.
In October, Pallas filed a motion for dismissal arguing that one of the prosecutors, Michael Tierney, was guilty of prosecutorial misconduct for speaking to Gaviola without an attorney during a happenstance encounter in May 2023.
Although the motion was denied, the judge chastised Tierney for his conduct.
The case against Gaviola stemmed from an attempt by the 38-year-old mother to send her son to the Agape Boarding School in Stockton, Missouri.
Gaviola’s son refused and obtained a domestic violence protection order against his mother. According to court records, that order was violated when two employees of Sandoval’s agency, a transportation company that delivered minors to the boarding school, picked him up at a skating rink in Fresno.
He was held in handcuffs for more than 24 hours while he was driven to Missouri, according to court records.
Sandoval, of Piedmont, Missouri, was also a former dean at the school.
U.S. Attorney Eric Grant was pleased with the verdict, saying no one has the right to forcibly restrain anyone and violate a state-ordered domestic violence restraining order.
“No parent — indeed, no person whatsoever — has the right to subject a child to kidnapping and terror for that reason or any other reason,” Grant said in a statement. “This office will continue to vigorously prosecute anyone who violates the basic rights and safety of minors in our district, especially in violation of lawful court orders.”
