Clovis mom arrested for forcibly taking handcuffed son to Missouri, prosecutor says
A mother with ties to Clovis and another adult were indicted for allegedly holding her son against his will while handcuffed and transporting him from Fresno to Missouri, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert said in a news release that Shana Gaviola, 35, of Clovis was aided by former boarding school dean Julio Sandoval, 41, of Piedmont, Missouri, to transport her son across the country despite a protective order the son had requested in July 2021.
The indictment unsealed Tuesday said Sandoval was the dean of a boarding school in Missouri and the founder of an agency that transported minors to the school. The indictment did not include the boy’s age.
The son began living away from his family in 2020 and petitioned for emancipation, prosecutors said. He also obtained a domestic violence protection order against Gaviola from the Fresno County Superior Court.
People acting on behalf of Gaviola and Sandoval found the son at a business in Fresno in August 2021, handcuffed him and forced him into a car, prosecutors said. He remained in the handcuffs for more than a day as he was driven to Stockton, Missouri, they said.
The son was held against his will at the school until his father intervened, prosecutors said.
Gaviola’s defense attorney, Tony Capozzi, said there is more to the story than is being presented by prosecutors in their indictment.
“There’s reasons that Ms. Gaviola did what she did. They were valid reasons,” he said. “She did not know there was a valid restraining order.”
Gaviola’s side of the story would be better revealed as the case proceeded, Capozzi said. She was arraigned Tuesday.
If convicted, each defendant faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, prosecutors said.
This story was originally published August 31, 2022 at 10:49 AM.
