June 26, 1992
Re: Shamema Honzagool Sloan
Dear Mr. Butler,
Since October, 1990, I have been in communication with you from time to time with regard to the kidnapping of my daughter, Shamema Honzagool Sloan, who was eight years old at the time, and of my mother, Helen Marjorie Sloan.
It has been my impression, to put it bluntly, that you have no interest in pursuing these kidnapping cases.
Recently, I happened to be talking to an F.B.I. agent at a job recruitment booth at an expo, and he found it difficult to believe the facts of the case as I explained them. He said that it was absolutely impossible that the F.B.I. would refuse to investigate a clear case of kidnapping. He further stated that you cannot unilaterally refuse to investigate such a matter. He said that you are required to give me an explanation in writing for your refusal to pursue a kidnapping case.
Therefore, I am writing this letter to demand that you provide me with a written explanation of why you chose not to pursue the matter of the kidnapping of my mother and my three children.
Just to recount the facts, my mother was kidnapped by a man named Boonchoo from her hospital bed in the Bangkok General Hospital on September 3, 1990. Boonchoo had been hired for this purpose by my brother, Creighton W. Sloan, and had been paid $27,000 to perform this kidnapping. Most of the money was paid by my uncle, W. Cassel Jacobson.
The purpose of this kidnapping was to gain control of the assets of my mother, who has a net worth of $300,000.
At the time of the kidnapping my mother, Boonchoo attempted to kidnap my three children as well, without success, because, realizing his intentions, I had hidden them in the Golden Triangle.
Charles Roberts, a non-relative, seeing the success of Boonchoo, then wired Boonchoo an additional $12,000 for the purpose of having my three children kidnapped as well. Two thousand dollars of this was used to bring Shanti Vithanage from Singapore to Bangkok to assist in this kidnapping. Thereafter, Shanti ran away from Boonchoo and rejoined me, and we eventually reached the United Arab Emirates.
Boonchoo then called Shanti and threatened to kill her if she did not hand over Shamema. The airline tickets were sent by Jay Roberts, the son of Charles Roberts, through the Holiday Travel Agency on Church Street in Lynchburg, Virginia. The three children were kidnapped in the afternoon of October 7, 1990, but the next morning Michael, age two, was abandoned in Abu Dhabi. Shamema, Jessica and Shanti arrived at Kennedy Airport in New York City on the morning of October 9, 1990, after having been detained briefly in London Heathrow Airport by the F.B.I. (according to the statement of Shanti Vithanage). After arriving at JFK airport in New York City, Shamema, Jessica and Shanti were then brought to the home of Charles Roberts in Madison Heights, Virginia. Later, Roberts kicked out Shanti and Jessica from his house, but retained Shamema.
One point I should emphasize is that Shanti Vithanage insists that she was questioned and detained along with Shamema by the F.B.I. in London Heathrow Airport on October 8, 1990. The reason for this was that Shamema was traveling without either parent and they were suspicious that a kidnapping might be taking place. I do not know whether you have agents posted in London Heathrow Airport or not but, if you do, this fact might be easily verifiable.
One misconception which many people seem to be laboring under is that Charles Roberts had legal custody of Shamema in Amherst County. This was not true. Charles Roberts was eventually awarded custody on about July 18, 1991 by Lawrence Janow, a corrupt Amherst County judge, but Mr. Roberts prior to that date had nothing more than a filed custody petition pending. Had you arrested Mr. Roberts back in October, 1990, as you should have done, he would never have been able to obtain custody of my daughter.
In addition, Mr. Roberts clearly did not have custody in Thailand, were he first attempted to kidnap the child, nor in the United Arab Emirates, where the child was ultimately kidnapped, nor in England, where the child passed through, nor in New York City, where the airplane bearing the child landed. In fact, the mother, Honzagool, who has no connection with Roberts, has legal custody of the child in New York City, although Honzagool is in Pakistan. In short, Roberts is clearly guilty of kidnapping in all those jurisdictions through which the child passed. The F.B.I. simply cannot ignore this fact.
Regarding the evidence, Shanti Vithanage testified on the record at a hearing before Judge Janow in the Jessica case on December 19, 1990 that Boonchoo, who was working for Roberts, threatened to kill her if she did not hand over Shamema, that she then called Roberts and asked him about this, and that Roberts told her that she had nothing to worry about, as long as she handed over Shamema. Roberts also testified and confirmed this. It appears that he considers himself to be fully justified on religious grounds in making this death threat in order to gain control of Shamema.
The transcript of that hearing, which is of the Jessica case, is available in the Amherst County Circuit Court. Especially of interest are pages 60-70.
Regarding my mother, there are volumes of evidence available in the State Department files establishing that my mother did not wish to return to America because she feared that Creighton would have her kidnapped and locked up and then proceed to strip her of her assets. She was interviewed about this on innumerable occasions from 1986 to 1990 by various consular officers in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. After all this, my brother did exactly what my mother claimed that he was going to do. He kidnapped her, got her locked up in the Mattie C. Hall Health Care Center in Aiken, South Carolina, and is now proceeding to strip her of her assets.
This is not the first time my brother has done something like this. He was an emotionally disturbed child who constantly got into trouble. He used to steal his mother's car with great regularity. The difference is that now he is able to overpower her physically, which is the reason that she fled the United States just to get away from him.
All of these are facts which you have known for quite some time. Now, the question is, why aren't you doing anything about this? This has got everybody baffled. Is it possible that kidnapping is legal in America? You are obviously aware that there is an Interpol warrant out for the arrest of Charles Roberts, on a charge of kidnapping. Even if you choose not to extradite him, he should be arrested on that part of the kidnapping which took place in the United States. You are no doubt aware that there has been extensive international publicity regarding this kidnapping, especially in the Arabic language press. This, along with your kidnapping of Noreiga and other international criminals, creates the impression in the foreign press that the U.S.A. has a corrupt government which does not adhere to international law. You demand the extradition of two persons who never left Libya in their efforts to blow up an airplane, yet you are providing a safe refuge in Amherst County, Virginia to a man who notoriously arranged the kidnapping of an elderly woman and three small children.
You are no doubt aware that the international kidnapping of a child is a violation of the Hague Convention, and of the International Child Kidnapping Act, 42 U.S.C. 11601. Under this federal law, the child must be returned to the country from which she was kidnapped. This means that my daughter, Shamema, must be returned to the United Arab Emirates, where she was kidnapped. (I would be satisfied, however, if she was just removed from the State of Virginia, to get her out of the grasp of the crooked judges there.)
Again, I must emphasize that I am demanding a written answer to this letter. I want to know exactly why Charles Roberts, Jay Roberts and Shelby Roberts have not been arrested and why my daughter has not been returned to me by you, as required by 42 U.S.C. 11601. I want to clarify that I have no interest in receiving a telephone call about this. I have wasted my money on enough telephone calls and visits to your office already. I am demanding action, and in particular I am demanding that Charles Roberts, Shelby Roberts, Jay Roberts, Creighton Sloan and Cassel Jacobson all be arrested on kidnapping charges. I am demanding that you pick up my daughter, Shamema. from the Roberts house and return her to me. Finally, I am demanding a written explanation from you that I can show to my Congressman and others as to why this has not been done.
Very Truly Yours,
M. Ismail Sloan
I have written innumerable letters complaining about this kidnapping. More than that, I have been arrested eleven times in efforts to stop me from getting my kidnapped daughter back. In 1992, I was extradited from California and tried and sentenced to five years in prison in Virginia on charges which I can prove are completely false. I got out of prison after only 21 months, much to the consternation of the people who kidnapped my daughter. They keep trying to have me arrested again.
Here is my first letter to the FBI: Letter to the FBI about the kidnappings of Dr. Marjorie Sloan and Shamema Honzagool Sloan. Here is my second letter to the FBI: Letter to the FBI Agent John Terry . Here is the only reply I have ever received either verbally or in writing to my letters to the FBI and to the US Department of Justice about these kidnappings (Note that in July, 1991, nine months after Charles and Shelby Roberts had kidnapped my daughter, Judge Lawrence Janow of the Amherst County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court had "awarded" them custody of the child which they had kidnapped): 1994 Response of US Department of Justice regarding 1990 complaints of kidnappings of Dr. Marjorie Sloan and Shamema Honzagool Sloan .