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By Elise Sonray

of the A.M. Costa Rica staff

After many appeals the U.S. woman accused of  kidnapping her young daughter lost her last chance to stay in the country. The Sala IV constitutional court ruled that the woman, Chere Lyn Tomayko, who has lived in Costa Rica for at least eight years, will be extradited back to the United States within two months, said a court spokeswoman.

But, added the Tribunal de Heredia, if authorities do not extradite Ms. Tomayko in two months time, she will be immediately released as in accordance with state requirements.

Ms. Tomayko has appealed her case to various courts at least four times, according to judicial documents. This last appeal was her final chance at getting off, said the court spokesman. Ms. Tomayko had also pleaded refugee status to immigration officials, said an immigration police director, although he would not give details of the plea.

In court documents Ms. Tomayko filed domestic violence charges against her previous boyfriend, Roger Cyprian, her daughter s father. The documents stated that Ms. Tomayko fled the United States out of fear.  In an October interview with the girl s father, he said that he had been searching for his daughter for 10 years and had gone to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for help. Cyprian said his daughter Alexandria “had been supplied with 10 years of misinformation about me from Ms. Tomayko, and I believe if she is allowed to read just a little of the other side of the story, it might make a difference in her life.”

Tomayko, was detained in September because she took her daughter out of the United States against the order of a Texas court. The U.S. federal indictment alleged that Ms. Tomayko kidnapped her daughter Alexandria Camille Cyprian in May 1997 and took her away during a parental custody battle.

Ms. Tomayko had been living in Heredia and teaching at a school for a number of years. Her habeas corpus court documents state that she has maintained an 8-year-long relationship with Javier Francisco Montero Umaña in Costa Rica, and has two young daughters as a result of that relationship: Ana Sofía Montero Tomayko, 5, and Ariana Nicole Montero Tomayko, 7.  The extradition of Ms. Tomayko would, “injure the rights of the minors . . . leaving them without the protection of their mother” reads her third appeal to the constitutional court. It continues, “the stress they (the daughters) have seen and been put under in this process has caused them reduced health.”

The Heredia court added that Ms. Tomayko has the right to bring her personal belongings and documents as well as evidence received by the tribunal, said a court spokeswoman.

An official at the U.S. Embassy here was told in May 2002 where Ms. Tomayko was living but no action took place. The official asked A.M. Costa Rica not to publish the information for a time, and the newspaper complied for a year.

The current consul general at the embassy, David R. Dreher, has blamed the FBI for not following up, a claim that FBI agents in Texas deny.

http://www.amcostarica.com/2008061901.htm

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