Parents need to realize their children are human beings, NOT their property!! I get so sick of these people who CHOOSE to have children, then abuse, neglect and/or murder them!! I also get so upset when they bring their low-life girlfriends/boyfriends into the children's lives for them to neglect, abuse and/or murdrer them.

GROW UP!!!! When you CHOSE to become parents, life is no longer all about you and what you want...it SHOULD be about what is best for your children!!!

Hear you! I`m married to abuser for many years and waiting to my last child to turn 18 and then get divorce. As long as he does not abuse my children I can take the pain, I know he will kill me or maybe all of us if I leave so for now I stay and I can guarantee my kids safety.

Blondeness032, what is all this about abuse, neglect and murder. From what I read this man just did not return the children after visitation (see under his picture). Also, maybe Mr. Cleary WAS protecting his children by keeping them from their mother. I have been involved in custody matters many times before where the custodial mother is neglectful and the fathers cannot get custody. If Mr. Cleary has to take his kids, it can be assumed he tried to get them during the divorce. Judges are still deciding custody based on the "vagina method": The parent with one always get preference, and almost always gets custody. To my mind if Mr. Cleary did not get a fair chance at custody (like most men don't), I applaud him for ignoring the judge. No different than civil disobedience during the Selma march.

A friend of mine let his wife have the kids for her visitation and she took off for Georgia they would not put out an amber alert because it was the other parent. They won't arrest her in Georgia because we don't have a reciprocal agreement with Georgia. He was told by the sheriff in Georgia that won't do anything even though he has the paperwork to show he has sol custody of the boy and that there is a warrant out for her arrest. The sheriff say's if she puts him in school for two months he belongs in Georgia. The women always win if this was a man they would have broke the door of the house down and arrested him. We need blind justice for a change

mpb12: You are abusing your children by staying with that monster! They are learning how to become him or be attracted to a mate who is like him, and you are teaching them that abuse is okay and you should stay and take it instead of standing up for yourself and what's right and putting him in divorce court and maybe in jail!!! THE LESSONS YOU ARE TEACHING THEM IS ABUSE. The lessons you are teaching them will NEVER go away. NEVER, EVER, EVER stay with any abuser FOR ANY REASON!! An abuser is teaching your children everything they'll ever learn and you are teaching them it's okay by staying.

How is it kidnapping? It's HIS kids. If the situation had been reversed, there wouldn't be nearly as much harsh treatment to the woman. This whole business of taking children from men and giving a woman custody is ridiculous. All the facts haven't been made clear in this case, and I'm willing to bet that those kids were just fine (and possibly better off) with their father. A man shouldn't be held criminally liable just for doing what he wants with HIS kids....

You mean people drinking, under stress and buying firearms are a warning sign? Nothing, nothing just thinking out loud.

It's sooo much better to read the news that the kids were found and safely returned to their mother. We don't really need another 'disturbed dad kills kids' scenario, do we. I hope they get help for this man. His seems an all-too-common situation these days.

The person who acted to save the kids deserves a round of applause!

stonepipe,

how many of the allegations were substantiated and proved to be correct? opps.. facts getting in the way of an anti gun rant once again. more media hype to fit an agenda perhaps?... just thinking out loud as well.

oh please! them kids were never lost or in danger. baffoone. being gullable can be very dangerous.just ask the police officers who fell into this web of lies, this she devil so called mother reeled in a bunch of sucker fish

I don't believe the mother's accusations. Her statements are all part of the custody "game". I'd say the same thing if I thought it would get me more police action and maybe even National attention. Good job to the her though, she achieved her objective and now the kids are back where they legally belong.

The kids were never unsafe. Legally, they may have been kidnapped, but in this case they weren't in harm's way.

Ever have a lawyer tell you, "there's not a judge in this county that's going to give a 10-year old to the father"? I have and believe me, it changed my life forever. Women leave men and destroy families too. Those men LOSE custody of their children, many times through no fault of their own.

Mentally walk a mile in this man's shoes before writing out your reply. Some men are loving fathers and husbands who suddenly have their children stolen out from them. It happens way more than you think and in the majority of cases, the men don't turn violent. For every case that does, you hear about it on the news.

Harold of the Rocks, I have to agree with you and I'm not even a guy! There are a lot of good dads out there who lose their kids due to custody battles and accusations moms make up to win the battles. It's saddest for the innocent kids stuck in the middle of their parent's battles. I don't know enough about this case but it sure didn't appear to me that these boys were ever in harms way. He was out in the open with them - shopping! I hope for the kids sake that the parents resolve their differences. Divorce and be civil about it........if not for themselves then at least for THEIR children!

4 the troops...you have gone off the deep end there just sayn

Harold of the rocks...you have some anger issues there much???? Yes, there are bad men & women...the father put them in harm when he kidnapped them plain & simple

GM Scoots! Agree facts vs. opinions are sometimes like pissing in the wind.

I didn't write anger into my comments Jen, but your welcome to infer it if it helps you get your point across.

He didn't kidnap them. The day after the MOTHER SAID they were supposed to come back to her she reported them missing. Do you know for a fact that that was the agreement? No you do not. Newtown is still fresh in everybody's minds and the mother said she was worried because the father bought a gun(which is legal), was drinking(how the hell would she know, but is also legal) and upset(maybe because he was more than likely having to fight to see his children). Women make false claims everyday to win custody battles with the fathers of their children. You want to bet this was her way of getting more custody so he couldn't see his kids but still had to send a check?

There would be no probable cause to arrest him if there were not a custody agreement or court order requiring him to return the children on a given date. SHEESH!

There still much about this case that we all still don't know about this case to jump to any conclusion. There are a few things that just don't add up, I live in Georgia and an Amber alert on billboards, tv, billboards, and newspapers were everywhere even on the radio. The idea that this guy was simply "set up" by his wife with a picture of his kids and description of his vehicle without him or anyone he knows noticing is extremely far fetched. If he was not doing anything wrong it was a misunderstanding why didn't he contact law enforcement and let them know where they were?

The boys are probably better off with their father.

Kidnapping? gimme a break.

Exactly.... also there were Amber Alert for these two kids in Georgia at least everywhere, on tv, billboards, on the radio, in the newspaper, its a little hard for me to believe that he or anyone that he knew didn't know what was going on and he was just innocently "set up" by his ex wife. Not saying it couldn't be the case, but if he wasn't up to something why didn't he contact authorities to let them know where they were, it took a citizen in Texas to contact the cops.

I live in Georgia. The police did confirm that the mother was due to have the children based on the custody agreement but I must agree, as a mom, something doesn't seem right on the other side of the story to me. I have seen a non-stop barrage of it on television and there is a lot of the story that is left out. Just wait before we all jump to conclusions.

Ok so back up here this woman called the authorities and said her kids were missing. Yet she knew where they were. The father was arrested for kidnapping his OWN children. Hmm sounds like she wasn't happy with him having more time with the boys then she wanted him to have. However here is a thought. "She KNEW he was drinking, she KNEW he purchased a gun, and she KNEW he was upset." Why was this woman not arrested for child endangerment!? as well if there was no firearm found why was the man arrested in the first place. They are after all his OWN children. Sorry but I am with the Joker for the original batman on this. This country needs an enema.

He was arrested for

interstate interference with custody

not 'kidnapping'

I think turning the father into a villain by the mother doesn't wash, when he apparently loves the boys and needs to be with them, missing them. After all, the father is as much a part biologically of his sons as the mother is, and denying him their company by making screeches and hollers and using criminal locators is a terrible thing to do to the youngsters.

He was late getting the kids back to mommy? And she calls the cops? What crime was committed? What proof of it is there?

I question the way mommy is handling the situation because the effect of this polarization by her on the kids is unforgivable.

It's interesting to see the wide range of opinions in this thread-from "a tragedy-in-the-making was averted" to "mother is playing a custody dispute game." Since we'll probably never know the facts (this must be a super-slow news day!) behind this story, we're all just guessing.

If a firearm was purchased there will be a trail. If not, well then pick on the mother. I'm glad the kids are okay and the Dad is in custody so that he can get help, get sentenced or whatever is necessary. At least he will not harm himself or others (think two precious sons and/or law enforcement.)

"Dad is in custody so that he can get help, get sentenced or whatever is necessary"

Sound like giving him his sons might solve the problem. I've met one woman out of scores of them who understood the first thing about the psychology of tween or teen boy and how to raise them. If I were a judge and a good father was petitioning for custody, I would always give him preference. Boys not have a live-in male role model, especially after age 10, is the reason we have so many wackos.

Of course he had a gun, and was drunk too. The ex wife said so.

My comment was to the fact the police said they had no idea if he had a weapon in his possession when they arrested his A**. Insofar as on his person at the time of arrest.

might want to get out a little glass cleaner and use it on your Chrystal ball.

gm Tramp ..... good call.

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." ---Martin Luther King Jr.

ok I'll bite....who the hell is mike? ...and can other people see and converse with him or just you?

So we can safely assume your not a Georgia State fan then?

Freddie, I think you forgot to take your meds this morning! Do you also talk to street lights and martians?

mmis 6.3, I once had a co-worker that talked to his roladex. Does that count?

Actually, the rambling of Freddie are sadly correct, if you try to sludge through them. Georgia has a really poor DFCS (Dept. of Family and Children Service) reputation. They have a SOLID history of returning children to be abused or killed without reasoning or fact. The DFCS, sadly, is being run by poorly educated individuals that have their hands tied.

Yes, I have seen it first-hand and unless you are educated and are able to defend yourself correctly, GA is a sad place for family matters to be played in the government debacle.

wow.. if that is true about Georgia (I've never lived in that state), it seems to me from the accounts I am reading not just us commenting here, but the article I read, that Mommy Dearest is a much worse parent than dad.

I think dad should check out one of the national organizations of lawyers who provide pro bono work for folks in need of legal help and cannot pay for it, like Legal Aid Foundation (although they may not be in Georgia). Or even ask for referrals from the American Bar Association. Lawyers are requested to provide as much as 50 hours per year of pro bono service, although it may vary with the state. Look up the term pro bono which is Latin for "For the Good."

This is a civil matter, not a criminal one, it seems to me. And I think its the kids who are suffering the most... not from their dad, but from their mom's accusations and calling the police.

Right on! As a divorced mother whose child was kidnapped by his father, but nothing happened simply because I was too naive to call the police, I totally sympathize with this poor father. By the time I had hired a lawyer and realized the way the ridiculous divorce laws work, my ex had served me with papers where he had custody! And yes, it works! It's a despicable move that I won't describe here because I don't want anyone copying it, but it's perfectly legal and this is how people like the father in the article get deprived of custody in the first place. All the people ganging up on the dad, think about what you are doing, and take a good look at what's going on below the surface... Right now I am the one suffering without my son, but the fact that I'm a woman doesn't make it right either. Look no further than the ridiculous unilateral divorce laws that have made marriage a sham for the real culprit here.

sure that mountain of paperwork and little else always help clear things up.

Why of course once the government gets involved everything will be rainbows and fuzzy bunnies. Look at how well they do with everything else.

Freddie, I think you forgot to take your meds this morning! Do you also talk to street lights and martians?

I hope the authorities got the story from the boys first before mom perhaps adds details that didn't happen. It's happened before. It would be a bad thing on the part of the custodial parent to now bad mouth the dad. The dad might have already bad-mouthed the mom to the boys. Who wins? Definitely not the children.

Roswell Georgia,? a wealthy suburb where kids go to
Duke, North Carolina and Harvard. No ma'am most of Georgia is not like that, maybe the small town where you lived; it could be a possiblity. I live in East Cobb and 99% of the people are well educated, polite and not all believe in religon. I love my Georgia...glad you moved, we do not want you here if you are not happy!!!

Coach, you need to get around the rest of Georgia. LOL

Roswell Georgia,? a wealthy suburb where kids go to

And from which dads kidnap their kids.

Susan- I, too, live in GA. I left home and traveled and lived other places but I still came home. I was also educated here and raised 4 children here. I live south of Atlanta and I will take the "most of the people" that you are discussing any single day of the week as opposed to what I have seen in NY, FL, CA, LA, and even Italy and Paris. But hey, when you are a good neighbor, you generally get them in return. Just sayin'.

Doc, yes Roswell is very wealthy and very distinquished educated area....emotions have nothing to do with what area a person is from...have you ever visted this area?...I assume not...and until such point...do not classify any area with one incident between a desperate ex-husband and contrast this to the high success rate for education...verychilidish and and not a very intelligent respone to my prior comment...

and now if convicted he gets to wear the tag of felon everywhere he goes for the rest of his life...nice... real nice....

I agree. I'm always sad when people can't get along enough to amicably raise their children. I couldn't imagine having set "visitation" with my own child, not allowed to tuck her in at night or see her every day. People need to put more thought and dedication into their marriages and families rather than just thinking "well, if it doesn't work out I'll just get a divorce." I couldn't imagine telling my husband he had to go live away from his child, or tell my child that her father had to move out because we were too selfish and immature to work out our problems.

rmb22...you just nailed it on the head

like the invisible one his ex wife "claimed " he had?

Ban divorce!

@takenaka

Still pasting that same comment I see. You've been using it for days, it's getting stale! Copy and paste a different one.

Leave poor takenaka alone. He/she has discovered a wonderful world, where complex problems can be solved by a two-word sentence. Who are we to destroy his/her creation.

"People do not like to think. If one thinks, one must reach conclusions. Conclusions are not always pleasant." ---Helen Keller

Most children of divorced parents I know have everything and anything they ever want. Funny, the kids with parents who stay together tend to have less "stuff" but more general happiness.

To all the deluded folks who think Dad just wanted to be with his kids, WTF was he doing hauling them all over the southern part of the U.S. (Tennessee, Texas, etc.)? Most custody agreements or orders require that one parent notify the other if the kids are going to be taken out of state. And, if this was just a misunderstanding about when the kids were to be returned, why no phone calls, texts, etc. from the kids to mom during the when they were not accounted for?

Ah, Wantstoknow, I was wondering when someone was going to point out that our much-maligned dad could have saved himself, his children, his ex-wife and the authorities a whole lot of grief by complying with the legalities/visitation schedule. None of us know the background of this story-did mom try to reach dad, was he allowed to take the children on a multi-state visit, etc, so we can't really cooment on any of it. But dad didn't return the kids when he was supposed to. His bad. Period.

You nailed it Jim!

agreed great post jim....you may have a cookie....

Amazing how much all you haters are bashing the mother & blaming her, when the father is the one who kidnapped these boys....If all of you who claim they favor the mother & f#ck the father maybe you should look in the mirror of how great of a parent you think you are & I am from divorced parent & am a divorced parent ...if you spew such anger here I can only imagine the hare you spew in front of your children about your ex...children should NEVER be put in the middle.

The mother left her children with a man she claims is violent, does that sound like a good mother to you? Yet the father wasn't trying to hide from the law, he obviously didn't stop the mother from talking to the children, the children weren't harmed in any way, and the police saw no weapon or drinking (you can bet that had the father been drunk you would have read it in the article) yet only on the mother's say so do you and the police think he kidnapped his kids (after the mother sent them to him) with no proof.

I agree. I went through a bad divorce where I had to watch everything i did or said or she would use it against me. It is the children who suffer. My son was the most important thing and I made sacrifices for his well being even if it was bowing down to her manipulative ways.

Nope, we are not "mother haters." Most mothers wouldn't do this. However, there are enough of them who are extremely vindictive and who know how to manipulate, pervert and distort everything the government allows into a weapon to destroy the ex-husband that this is a known behavior pattern.

They are creative in the extreme and will spend huge amounts of their creative energy contriving every possible means to wreck their retribution, punish the father in any way possible and obtain absolutely every possible property and financial resource as their entitlement for being divorced. They don't care about the children unless it means they will lose child support money. They don't care whether the father will survive to have a place to live or ever be able to work again. They have figured out how the legal system works and will make maximum abuse of it, including any lie or fabricated evidence to take advantage of it. They know exactly what to say and when and how to obtain maximum "victim" status.

A lot of people have a difficult time understanding how horrendous it is dealing with an ex-wife who is like this and a hard time believing people can be deliberately this evil. A friend was married to one of these for about five years and through lies and manipulation of the court system, she managed to get more in child support and spouse support that he earned by about $450 a month and that went on for over nine months. She repeatedly was able to get him served for contempt until a court actually looked at what he earned and had been earning for years. She also got a restraining order against him through more perjury and lies for things that supposedly occurred when he was actually over 150 miles away. The deputies that served it knew exactly what she was doing when they served him with it because they had seen it so many times before.

I was married to one of these monsters for over 30 years and subjected to all this evil including perjury and attempted self-inflicted injuries to use as evidence. I known now that I should have divorced her 29 years earlier. Fortunately, the sheriff's deputies could tell what was going on. The other mistake she made was leaving voice mail on my cell phone threatening to shoot me that she thought couldn't be recorded and played to the police and the court. That was big surprise to her when it was played to the police and a court. Her utter arrogance got her. It was one of the things that finally led to an end of more than four years of nonsense from her.

Jim - your article must have more info than mine ....

typical scam started by one parent who says to the other "I'll let you take the children on a vacation that will keep them past the time in the agreement" usually in exchange for letting them do it some time in the future. Then, the moment they do, they file a kidnapped child and custody violation complaint with all sorts of stuff about how crazy the other parent is and all kinds of false drug, drinking, weapons and violence and acting crazy accusations.

.... lots of assumptions being made - don't you think?????

@Jen Lance-Johnson: The ploy from the mother is this: Talk the ex-husband into taking the children on a vacation that extends past the written shared custody agreement by some period of days in a verbal agreement, usually with the explanation that it is too much trouble (and it is because it would take weeks or months) to get a written court order modification, often with a verbal agreement that she can do the same some time in the near future. Then, wait until the children are not returned as in the written agreement and call the police, make all kinds of accusations about how dangerous and crazy the father is with guns, drugs, booze, drunkenness and every other form of fear mongering and generate an amber alert. The ploy is to get the father arrested and charged with felony kidnapping and end shared child custody to obtain full custody and full child support money along with severly wrecking retribution on the ex-husband for every contemplating whatever it was that led to the divorce up to and including years of imprisonment.

This is so well known that police and courts are finally getting wise to it and not just assuming the ex-husband is some monster but realizing a lot of this is from extraordinarliy manipulative sociopathic ex-wives who are very creative at perverting every possible police and court mechanism into a weapon aimed at the ex-husband. The real clue to her behavior is that she allowed him to supposedly leave with the children as a gun-wielding drunken alchoholic who might kill them and then didn't report anything until much later. If the children were in danger at any time and she cared at all about them, she could have (and would have) called the police instead of handing the children over to the father and the police would have intervened with a report that would satisfy the court that she was not in contempt for not letting the father have them. Any non-profit domestic violence support agency can get this done almost instantly.

From your reaction, I suspect you are not like this and have no experience with one of these monsters and you may find it hard to imagine what it is like dealing with one of them.

@justsayin - It's there in the article that she told the police that he was a drunk with a gun with her children and that she didn't report anything about his supposed danger to the children until after he could be charged with kidnapping. She didn't do one thing to prevent him from having custody until she could do this. This is done so many times by sociopathic ex-wives that some divorce attorneys advise ex-husbands about this kind of behavior so that they know to never, ever, under any circumstances, trust anything the ex-wife says in a verbal agreement about deviating from the court-ordered written custody agreement because they will deliberately set up the ex-husband for exactly what happened here. Some less than reputable attorneys will give all kinds of advice to ex-wives on exactly how to do this along with all kinds of unnecessary restraining orders and every other kind of perverted manipulative maneuver to obtain maximum child support and spousal support. One community college in Florida had courses only women were allowed to take that taught divorcing wives exactly how to do this kind of stuff in a divorce.

You have obviously had a bad experience with an ex. I have had a bad experience with a Dad - that continues. You cannot possibly know for sure that this is the case by this story. Jumping to conclusions makes you no better. She may have said something, we don't know. She may be the "bad guy" - the dad may be the "bad guy". This is a basic story and none of us knows that background to it.

Just sayin.....

Heck...I payed my wife 2000.00 a month for alimony and child support and she drug it out for almost 4 years. This is for one child!! She knew how to work the system and instead of looking for work she researched how to work the system. Of course I had no money to fight her because of what I was paying her. She took me for everything turned my son against me and the crazy thing is that she wanted the divorce do to her O.C.D. Mental health issues and needing complete control of everything so yes I could see my ex making stories up to get her way. Oh yeah by the way I am happily remarried to an amazing woman that I wish I would have met 8 years earlier. ( she's not crazy) also just a note I happened to ask my ex a few weeks ago if she thought that she took to much and if she thought that she was unreasonable. She just looked at me and said " I don't think I took enough" yeah there are some crazy Ex's out there.

Notice their was no police corroboration to the purchase of the gun. I'm a woman and I question the truth of her claim. Dad probably wants to see his kids more. Poor man. Now he'll only have supervised visitation.

and now...based solely on her word if convicted he gets to be a felon for life...nice... real nice.

Most domestic violence is by women??? Oh my.

Good morning Scooter. Seems like the gun word is a trump card in alot of these stories the last few weeks. I'm surprised the Ex didn't mention he was suicidal and off his mind altering medications too.

the one she claims he bought yet they didn't find? that gun? or perhaps the booze he evidently wasn't drinking when he was picked up? and who in the obamanation isn't under stress?

No gun charge....because he obviously didn't have one.

No public intox charge... nor even a hint of alcohol reported by the P.D. on or in him.

No report of his acting incoherently in any way....by anyone but the ex

All leads to ONE thing....can you guess what that is?

He might be a control freak and he DID just buy a gun. That's not a good sign, I'd call the police too. We don't know the background of their marriage or anything. I do believe fathers have rights, 1/2 at least, as long as their not batshcrazy. Some men can't handle women leaving them, period. Just sayin'

Okay. More quality time with their dad. Yeah and if you read the article it said he was supposed to return them on Wednesday and she did not make the call until THURSDAY. Which means that she gave up her Christmas Day with THEIR children in order for him to have that time. The fact that they were found in TEXAS, leads me to believe that he was going to try to cross the border with THEIR children and disappear. So YES he did KIDNAP them. Georgia to Texas? All for more quality time? Or all to take them away from their mother in order to hurt and punish her for the divorce?

As for people "staying together for the children". That is a bunch of BS, if the marriage is so bad that you cannot stand the sight of each other, then you are teaching your children that they do not deserve to be happy and that they have to STAY because of what someone else thinks. Respect each other, respect your children and keep the negative things about the other parent out of your mouth and the children's ears!

I doubt those boys were ever in harm's way!

I agree 100% Why are the laws so messed up as to allow something like that to happen? Because there are people making money off this system - the lawyers, the judges, even the police who chase down fathers who just want to be with their children and have done nothing wrong.