Tribunal de Menores de Mercedes - Cause number 32.202

Editor's note: Some names have been partially redacted to protect individual privacy or for other reasons at the discretion of the editors of xFamily.org.

Case Summary and Background

Tribunal de Menores de MERCEDES
Juez Dr. Julio M. Cámpora
Provinicia de Buenos Aires
Poder Judicial

Causa No. 32.202, Frouman, Emanuel David y otros s/ infracion al art. 10 ley 10.067.
Cause Number 32.202, Frouman, Emanuel David and others regarding infraction of Art. 10 of Law 10.067.

On December 19, 1990, Case number 32.202 was ratified in the Tribunal de Menores de Mercedes (Minor's Court of Mercedes) in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The case was filed by an American citizen, Ruth Frouman, who alleged that Stuart Baylin and The Family refused to return four of her five children after she was expelled from the group in July 1987 after being diagnosed with breast cancer in December 1986. In late October 1990, she was briefly permitted to see her children but Stuart Baylin and The Family refused to allow her to take her children home as both she and the children's father had repeatedly requested since 1987. Thus, she and the children's father filed a complaint with Judge Campora and appointed her sister and her brother-in-law as her representatives and granted them temporary custody for the express purpose of returning her children to the United States. The U.S. State Department, including its employees Barbara Hemingway (U.S. Consul General to Argentina) and Office of Children's Issues staffer Consuelo Pachan provided assistance. The Family later claimed that the U.S. State Department provided assistance to parents and relatives of missing children in this case and others because it had been infiltrated by agents of the anti-cult movement and the Cult Awareness Network[1]. To date, it has offered no evidence to support these claims. In February 1991, Ruth Frouman slipped into a coma and died on March 12, 1991 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Despite being immediately informed of her death by mail, telephone and published obituaries, Stuart Baylin and The Family did not allow them to attend her funeral and waited over a year to inform all the children of their mother's death. On May 21, 1991 Judge Campora ordered that the Frouman children be presented to the court and ordered the Chief of Police of Buenos Aires to find them. Despite numerous inquiries, Stuart Baylin and The Family refused to produce the children and continued to hide them in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.

On April 13, 1993, Claire Borowik and Stuart Baylin, partially complied with the Court's May 1991 order and appeared before the court with the two eldest children. They both refused to produce the two younger children and refused to say where they were. In her April 14, 1993 deposition, Borowik claimed she first became aware of the existence of the Court's May 1991 order to return the children while attending a public conference on sects in which a lawyer spoke about the Frouman case and other pending cases involving The Family. Borowik also claimed to have once had written permission from Ruth Frouman to have temporary custody of Emmanuel David Frouman but said she had lost all copies of the alleged document and thus could not produce it prove it ever existed. In May 1993, the two older children were returned to their relatives in the United States and in the same month, Stuart Baylin fled with the two younger children to Uruguay. Around the same time, a separate criminal case (Causa No. 37.790) against Stuart Baylin was filed in Juzgado Criminal No. 8 under the supervision of Dr. Robertoi Guillermo Boracci. On at least three occasions, Stuart Baylin failed to appear before the court as ordered. In June 1993, Judge Campora requested the intervention of Federal Judge Roberto Marquevich to investigate matters beyond the jurisdiction of the minor's court. In September 1993, shortly after raids on Family homes in Argentina were unsuccessful in locating the missing children, Stuart Baylin fled with the missing children from Uruguay to Brazil and from there to Mexico. On February 8, 1994, Emmanuel David Frouman died in Orlando, Florida. In mid-1997, the youngest of the missing Frouman children was returned to his relatives in the United States.

Court Filings

Note: This list is incomplete. More court filings will be added to it as they become available. Most documents are in Spanish. English translations will be added as they become available.

• Letter from Cary Frouman — 1987-11-15
• Correspondence from Ruth Frouman — 1990-08
• Letters from physicians — Correspondence from Dr. B.W. Ruffner, Jr., M.D., F.A.C.P., Dr. Calvin P. Bryan, M.D., Dr. Philip T. Newton, M.D. regarding Ruth Frouman's health – 1990-10
• Poder Especial Mckee de Frouman Ruth Elaine a Rita Genevieve Mckee de Godoy — Special power of attorney – 1990-12-10
• Denuncia — Complaint presented by Ruth Frouman's brother-in-law on her behalf — 1990-12-19
• Certificado de defuncion — Death certificate of Ruth Frouman – 1991-03-25
• Pedido de Captura — 1991-05-21
• Notarized letter from Cary Frouman — 1991-08-15
• Fotocopia de carta escrita por Manoli a Debbie (Text version) — Letter from Manoli Frouman – 1991-09-15
• Letter from Judge Campora to the General Director of National Registry of Cults — 1992-08-04
• Letter from the General Director of the National Registry of Cults to Judge Campora — 1992-08-05
• Appearance — Stuart Baylin, Claire Borowik, the minor Emmanuel David Frouman and minor DPF appear before the court — 1993-04-13
• Letter from Judge Campora to the U.S. Ambassador — 1993-04-14
• Order — order setting deposition dates for minors Emmanuel David Frouman and minor DPF – 1993-04-14
• Deposition of Claire Borowik — 1993-04-14
• Deposition of Stuart Baylin(English translation) — 1993-05-14
• Deposition of Emmanuel David Frouman — 1993-04-15
• Deposition of minor DPF — 1993-04-16
• U.S. Consul General Barbara Hemingway to Judge Campora — includes notarized letter from Cary Frouman; – 1993-04-22
• Informe Socio Ambiental — 1993-05-05
• Informe de Sra. Assesora de Menores — 1993-05-10
• Informe de Asesoria No. 2 — 1993-05-11
• Report of telephone conference with Dr. Cary Frouman — 1993-05-11
• Order by Judge Campora — 1993-05
• Judge Campora to Director of Immigration — 1993-05
• Matanza Intelligence Delegation: Report by Hugo Gabutti — 1993-06-04
• Matanza Intelligence Delegation: Report by Hugo Gabutti — 1993-06-07
• Campora to Marquevich — 1993-06-24
• Order of Judge Campora - Text and Preliminary English Translation (PDF) — 1993-06-28 – On June 28, 1993, Judge Campora issued a ruling in which he declared that the human rights of the Frouman children and a number of Argentine laws had been violated by Stuart Baylin and The Family; inferred the existence of many criminal offenses (including kidnapping, hiding children, falsification of documents, rape, sexual abuse, illegal deprivation of libery and reduction to a state of servitude) beyond the jurisdiction of his court and requested the intervention of Federal Judge Roberto José Marquevich of San Isidro. Without prejudice to definitive jurisdiction, he transferred the entire record (consisting of 8 volumes, more than 1600 pages) to Judge Marquevich. [2] Thus, Causa 32.202 helped lay a foundation for Causa 81/89 which eventually resulted in raids on Family Homes in Argentina.
• Marquevich to Campora — 1993-07-28
• Matanza Intelligence Delegation: Report by Hugo Gabutti — 1993-09-03
• Matanza Intelligence Delegation: Report by Hugo Gabutti — 1993-09-07
• Matanza Intelligence Delegation: Report by Hugo Gabutti — 1993-10-06
• Judge Cosgaya to Judge Campora — 1993-10-14
• Informe — 1993-10-19
• Report of meeting in Rosario — 1993-10-28
• Order by Judge Campora — 1994-02-04
• Matanza Intelligence Delegation: Report by Hugo Gabutti — 1994-03-14
• Report by Judge Campora to Dr. Mariano Marcel, Director General de Asuntos Jurdicos, Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Comercio Internacional y Cultos — 1994-05

Related Cases and Legal Documents

• Cause No. 317, 213. "In the matter of the marriage of Ruth E. Frouman and Cary L. Frouman and in the interests of EDF, PSF, DPF, JMF, and MQF, minor children." 53rd District Court of Travis County, Texas. USA
  • 1981-10-09 Cause No. 317, 213 - Decree of Divorce - Volume 1073 - pages 273-277.
• Case 81/89 Cavazza, Juan C. and others — on Inf. Art.125, 139, 140, 142, Par.l, 142 bis, 210, 293 of the Code of Proceedings and art.3 of Law 23,592," Federal Court of San Isidro, 1 Sec.2 Office II, Reg. 443.

Press

• Ventana: La Secta los Niños de Dios Bajo Lupa del Juez de Menores Cámpora — 1993-07
• Todo empezo con 4 norteamericanos — Clarin, 1993-09-02
• Cult Crackdown: Group alleged to have initated children into sex — Associated Press/Chattanooga Times, 1993-09-03
• Daily Mail: Yard probe into child cult — 1993-09-03
• Toronto Star: Sect members face sex, abduction charges — 1993-09-08
• SOMOS: Los Niños de Dios - Como Fue la Investigacion — 1993-09-13
• Macleans: Not a normal family — 1993-09-20
• Noticias a Fondo: ¿Quien Ampara a la secta Niños de Dios? — 1993-11
• Protagonistas de Mercedes: Mas detalles sobre el golpe a la secta La Familia — 1994-08-15

Legal References

This section is a "stub". This means it is incomplete and needs further elaboration.

You can help by contributing information. Please use the Forum to send us content whenever possible.

Argentina

• American Convention On Human Rights "Pact of San Jose, Costa Rica" — Law cited by Judge Campora. Signed by Argentina on February 2, 1984 and ratified by the Argentina National Congress as Law 23.054 on August 14, 1984.
• Convención americana derechos humanos — Argentina law 23.054 cited by Judge Campora
• Convention On The Rights of The Child — Argentina is a party to this international treaty. It was approved by the United Nations General Assembly on November 20, 1989, ratified by the Argentina National Congress as Law 23.849 on September 27, 1990 and went into effect in Argentina on October 16, 1990. Its articles are frequently cited in Campora's 1993-06-28 ruling.
• DECRETO LEY 10.067/83 - Patronato de Menores — Argentine law cited by Judge Campora. Article 10 is referred to in the title of the case.
• Código Penal de la República Argentina — Argentina Penal Code

USA

Federal

• U.S. Code : Title 18 : Section 1201 - Kidnapping
• U.S. Code : Title 18 : Section 1204 - International Parental Kidnapping
• U.S. Code : TITLE 18. CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE: Chapter 213 - Limitations
• United States Department of Justice Criminal Resource Manual: International Parental Kidnapping

State

• Texas Family Code: Chapter 42: CIVIL LIABILITY FOR INTERFERENCE WITH POSSESSORY INTEREST IN CHILD
• Texas Family Code: CHAPTER 151. RIGHTS AND DUTIES IN PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIP
• Texas Family Code CHAPTER 152. UNIFORM CHILD CUSTODY JURISDICTION AND ENFORCEMENT ACT
• Texas Family Code SUBTITLE E. PROTECTION OF THE CHILD: CHAPTER 261. INVESTIGATION OF REPORT OF CHILD ABUSE OR NEGLECT
• Texas Family Code: CHAPTER 153. CONSERVATORSHIP, POSSESSION, AND ACCESS
• Texas Penal Code: CHAPTER 20. KIDNAPPING AND UNLAWFUL RESTRAINT
• Texas Penal Code: CHAPTER 22. ASSAULTIVE OFFENSES
• Texas Penal Code: CHAPTER 25. OFFENSES AGAINST THE FAMILY
• Texas Code of Criminal Procedure: Chapter 12 - Limitations