Justice System Failure or Just a Failure in Waldo County Sheriff's Department?(Unity, Maine)

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Above is a picture of a missing "At Risk" 17 year old girl being rescued by her parents from an Amish Community in Unity, Maine .

My name is Luis Bolanos, retired law enforcement / current private investigator / Victims Advocate / PAVE Ambassador / Voice for the Voiceless / Father / Grandfather.

I have a case I have been working on for the last few months trying to assist parents who made a decision to leave an Amish community in Unity, Maine and enter the "English" world. They have seven kids. The parents were told by Amish Leadership (the Bishop and the Deacon) Number one and Number two guys in the community....to leave their 14 year old son and 16 year old daughter behind until they were settled into their new English world/home....then come back to get their children. They blindly did as directed. Several months went by as several attempts were made by mom and dad to pick up their children. They were told they could not see their children or speak to them alone, and only through a window. Unbelievably, local law enforcement refused to assist the parents in getting their children back (because "it's the Amish and that's how we always deal with them". Eventually, the 14 year old boy escaped and is now back with his parents. I interviewed him. He is truly concerned and fearful for his sister's safety. He says he and his sister were told to lie to law enforcement and say they did not want to go home. They were told by Amish Leadership if they went home their parents would severely beat them and that they and everyone in the family would go to Hell... (of course none of it was true)...this is just a small part of the this Amish Communities powerful and well executed ongoing "grooming" process to convince the minors to stay in the Amish community.

This past week we obtained two court orders directing the Bishop and Deacon (the two defendants) to stay away from the minor daughter and to return her to her parents. The two defendants took the minor across state lines without parental consent. At the urgent request and direction of Child Protective Services / D.H.H.S. (Department of Health and Human Services) A missing "at risk" juvenile report was filed. Yesterday, the parents tried to meet with the Unity Police to have the court orders served. They saw their "missing" daughter riding by with others in an Amish Buggy. They attempted to physically retrieve their missing daughter (see attached photo of struggle). They eventually were able to recover their daughter. The police responded and have now told the parents they (the parents) are now being prosecuted for kidnapping "their own daughter".

The parents are willing to come forward to the media to tell their story (I promise you this will happen).

I've been investigating many cases like this in Amish communities for the last 14 months. I have dozens of others who will also tell you they too had to "escape" their Amish community and that seperating kids from their parents is a VERY common practice.....with the goal of increasing their numbers and trying to address the "bloodline" issues.

There is so much more....

How would you feel if this was your daughter?

What would you do?

Respectfully,

Luis A. Bola?os

#KIDSFIRST