American woman held for kidnapping own kids

An American woman was recently arrested for allegedly kidnapping her own children and fleeing with them to the Philippines.

The Bureau of Immigration’s (BI) fugitive search unit apprehended on Friday Ana Centillas Lorrigan, 57, in Barangay Calapucuan in Subic, Zambales.

In a statement, BI commissioner Jaime Morente said the suspect would be deported to the United States since her US passport and that of her two children had already expired.

Lorrigan will stand trial before a US district court in southern California for the crime of international parental kidnapping.

BI spokesperson Antonette Mangrobang said Lorrigan, with her son and daughter, entered the Philippines on April 15, 2011 and has not left the country since then.

The US Embassy in Manila later informed the immigration bureau that Lorrigan was wanted in her home country.

The International Parental Kidnapping Crime Act is a US federal law enacted in 1993.

Under the federal law, it is a crime to remove a child from the United States or retain a child outside the United States with the intent to obstruct a parent’s custodial rights.

Persons found guilty of violating the federal law will face a maximum prison term of three years.

Morente said Lorrigan, upon her arrest, left her children with her sister in the Philippines.

“Lorrigan left her children with her sister. She has become undocumented and as a consequence she lost her privilege to stay here,” he said.

Mangrobang said the BI’s board of commissioners will issue a summary deportation order against Lorrigan for being a risk to public safety and security as well as being a fugitive from justice.