Phoenix Arizona -- Dad On The Lam After Child Custodial Interference Charge
Wanted: Dad & daughter on the lam in Mexico;
Police seek him in arizona child custody flight violation
Lindsey Collom
The Arizona Republic
Apr. 8, 2005 12:00 AM
Michael Bonk, 44, says him and his five-year old daughter's transient lifestyle is better than the one they were recently living in Chandler, Arizona, even if it means he's a wanted man.
Bonk was charged with custodial interference, and a warrant was issued for his arrest in March. A judge agreed he violated an order that prohibited either parent from taking "Catie" out of Maricopa County without prior consent.
Bonk said he thought fleeing was the only option left. A February report from Catie's court-appointed representative noted "serious concerns" about his "mental stability, emotional integrity and parental abilities," court records show.
It was "the final straw" in a custody battle that has endured for most of his daughter's life, he said. He had custody but sensed it would end soon.
"(The report said) I wasn't fit enough to be a parent," Bonk said. "I just said, 'This is it. I'm done.' "
He began planning their escape.
Catie's mother, Marcie Lentini, 33, said Bonk wouldn't allow a visit the weekend of March 4 because the child was too ill to leave the house.
Catie and Bonk left anyway, heading south in a car packed with a cooler, canned food, toys, blankets and clothes.
They roamed as far as Mexico City and would have gone farther, Bonk said, if he had purchased passports beforehand.
But it didn't matter where they went, he thought: They would eventually be forgotten.
"So many people disappear and not a lot is said about it," he said. "As time kind of wore on, they'd kind of drop the issue."
Bonk was surprised when he called his mother, who told him they were featured in a recent article in The Republic. It said Catie is on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Web site, and he is named as her abductor.
Bonk said he called Chandler police and began talking with the detective assigned to the case, who asked him to meet her at the border.
He said he knows that what he did was wrong but is "not about to hand that sweet child over to someone."
The decision is tough. Catie seems so happy, he said.
He gave her the phone.
"We speak Spanish. I love everything (here) . . . right?" Catie said.
Bonk's answer could be faintly heard over the rumble of nearby traffic.
