a/k/a Shamema Honzagool Sloan
I drove my taxi cab down from New York City on August 16-17. It was an 850 mile trip. I left New York at 5:00 PM on August 16.
One hundred miles north of Parris Island, my car had a flat tire. I had to drive it off the road and get it fixed, as my cab did not have a lug wrench. This resulted in a two hour delay and I got to Parris Island at 1:10 PM.
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a/k/a Shamema Honzagool Sloan |
Later, the Russian girl told me that my daughter had been with an elderly woman. This was obviously Shelby Roberts. However, the Russian girl said that the woman was not fat. Since Shelby Roberts weighs 300-400 pounds, this led me to conclude that Shelby may be suffering from some wasting disease.
I found out that my daughter was required to report back to her barracks by 6:30 PM, but Family Day continued until 7:00 PM, so I waited in the barracks for her. Sure enough, she showed up at 6:15 PM, so I got to talk to her for 45 minutes, which was the first unsupervised conversation I have had with her since she was kidnapped on October 7, 1990.
She told me that Charles and Shelby Roberts had been there, but she had told them not to come up to her room. Shamema asked me if I found it interesting to see my own name, Sloan, all over everywhere.
I told Shamema that I had made arrangements for her half-sister, Jessica, to be present during the graduation ceremony, but that this plan had fallen through at almost the last moment. Shamema seemed sorry that Jessica had not come. She has not seen Jessica, to whom she was deeply devoted, for almost ten years.
At 7:00 PM I left as did the parents of other the new Marines. Since this was my first and perhaps only chance to catch Charles and Shelby Roberts outside of their area of Lynchburg, Virginia, where they are protected by the Falwell Organization, I went to the local police station and talked to Officer Wilson, a female police officer. I showed her a red booklet showing that my daughter was graduating from Marines Boot Camp the following day. My daughter is listed as "PFC S H Sloan". Officer Wilson left and came back. She said that she had called my daughter on the phone. My daughter had acknowledged that I was her father, but had said that she had not been kidnapped. Officer Wilson suggested that I call the FBI.
I called the FBI and demanded that the Roberts be arrested for kidnapping. I knew that Charles Roberts had a residence or time share of some sort on Hilton Head Island, where he had often hidden Shamema when he feared that the cases might go against him. I had never been able to find out the address, however.
Eventually, Mike Hagen, the FBI Agent who covers Parris Island and neighboring Hilton Head Island, came to see me. I showed him the booklet which showed my daughter as graduating from Parris Island Boot Camp on August 18. Her name is listed in the booklet as PFC S H Sloan, platoon 4022, Papa Company, 4th Battalion. On Parris Island, they only use last names. As a result, the other girls in the US Marines only knew her as Sloan. They did not know her first name.
Mike Hagen told me to get a hotel room and come back and tell him what it was. With great difficulty, I found the last motel room in the Parris Island area. All the motels are always fully booked when there is a graduation day, I was told.
I came back to the FBI office. Mike Hagen had posted a note saying:
"SHL
Went to Parris Island to interview daughter. Call 525-0858 & leave name of hotel & room # on voice mail I will call you there.
M. Hagen"
(I still have the note).
I went back to my motel room and went to sleep. At about 3:40 AM, there was a loud banging on the door. It was Mike Hagen. I opened the door and he came in with a uniformed police officer. He said that I had made a false report to him. He said that the Roberts had had custody of Shamema for "at least" 15 years. He told me to leave town right away and he would arrest me if I went to Parris Island in the morning to attend the graduation ceremony.
I told him that his information was wrong. He said a few other things, but I do not remember exactly what because I was still half asleep. He left the room and I went back to sleep.
I woke up at 7:00 AM (I thought it was 8:00 AM but the clock in my room had been set wrong.) The graduation ceremony was scheduled to start at 9:00 AM. Naturally, I was concerned that Mike Hagen had said he was going to arrest me if I tried to attend the graduation ceremony, but I figured that would work to my advantage in the long run because I can prove that everything I said is true and that Charles and Shelby Roberts really did kidnap my daughter, Shamema. Otherwise, how could they possibly have gotten her?
I drove to the gate at Parris Island. The guards there asked me for my driver's license, saying that people often beat taxi drivers out of fares, and asked me to pull over while they checked it. Remember that I was driving a New York City Taxi. Of course, I knew the real reason was that Mike Hagen had told them to stop me at the gate.
Soon, several other military officers started coming. The first to come were Sgt. Ratfiff and Lt. Falcheck. I wrote down the words "Watch Commander" and "Provost Marshall", but I do not remember which was which. The first one who said anything to me of substance identified himself as Major Butler. He was a nice man. He explained that he was aware that my daughter was graduating that day and that I had seen her the previous evening, but to avoid trouble I would be escorted to the graduation ceremony. I appreciated that, because I am mortally afraid of Charles and Shelby Roberts, who are known to carry guns.
There were further lengthy discussions. By now, about 8-10 military officers were present. The phone rang several times. Finally, Major Butler came back and said that there had been a change. This matter had gone all the way up to General S. A. Cheney, the commander of the base, and due to the FBI investigation, I would not be allowed to attend my daughter's graduation ceremony.
I said that I appreciated that I could not speak to the general, but I would like to speak to someone familiar with the reasons.
Major Butler was very courteous and called over and introduced me to Special Agent Shane Reichenberg. I was asking everyone their names and writing them down. A companion waved to Special Agent Reichenberg when I asked his name, but Reichenberg said he could give me his name. He even gave me his number at the Naval Criminal Investigation Service, or NCIS, which is (843) 228-2247.
Special Agent Reichenberg informed me that he and Mike Hagen had woken up my daughter at 2:00 AM that morning. Special Agent Reichenberg said that while this was unusual, any time a biological parent claims that his child has been kidnapped, this calls for an immediate investigation. My daughter had said that I was her real father, but she had denied that she has been kidnapped. Special Agent Reichenberg recognized that a child of eight years, as she was when she was kidnapped, or even of 18 years, as she is now, would not know whether she had been kidnapped or just legally taken.
I thanked him and said since there was nothing more to be done, I was driving back to New York. I asked if he could give me the red booklet with the names of all the new Marines graduating from boot camp listed. I had given my copy (which I had taken from my daughter's box) to Mike Hagen. Special Agent Reichenberg said that Mike Hagen was in his office in Beaufort and I could go there and ask him.
I got in my cab. The guards courteously stopped all traffic so that I could make a u-turn and leave. Little did they appreciate that we New York City Taxi Drivers have experience making u-turns in the face of oncoming traffic.
I drove to Mike Hagen's office, but he was not there. I taped a note to the door of the FBI office, asking him to mail the red booklet to me. This was also to let him know that I had not been frightened or cowed by his threat to arrest me.
I then drive to Aiken, South Carolina, where my mother has been locked up since 1990. This was a trip of 130 miles. I went to the courthouse and made copies of 950 pages of court documents. I paid the court clerk $237.50 cash for this, at 25 cents per page. They would not take my check (surprise!) but I used the ATM Machine.
I then went to the Aiken Adult Care Center, where my mother has been incarcerated. The administrator, Barbara (she would not give me her last name), was not going to let me see my mother because, she said, of bad things my brother had told her about me.
They tried to call my brother, but he was not home. However, his wife, Gloria, came. Even though my brother is a bad man, he has a very nice wife. She allowed me to see my mother. However, my mother is in weak and feeble condition. She was sitting in a wheel chair. Her eyes were open, but she could not speak. She seemed to nod her head a few times and it she seemed possible that she recognized me, but there was no way to tell for sure. However, she likes to eat and, according to Gloria, she is physically healthy and may easily live for many more years. My mother is 90 years old, but most of her ancestors were older than that when they died. My mother's family has always been known for extreme longevity.
I then drove to New York and had another flat tire on the way. I got back to New York City at 3:00 PM Saturday afternoon and immediately went to Kennedy Airport, where I started picking up passengers. I drove my cab as a taxi for another two days and returned it on Monday at 5:00 PM. Altogether, I drove it for 2486 miles in the 125 hours I had the cab. I had originally taken out the cab at noon on Wednesday, August 16 and the meter had read 104631 miles. I had first made $80 transporting passengers, dropping off the last two at Newark Airport, before starting on my drive to South Carolina. I made another $362 in profits after expenses for the two days I drove it after I got back from South Carolina. I returned it to the garage with 107117 miles on the meter. They never noticed.
I regard this trip as a great success. My one regret is that while in Beaufort I did not go to the local newspaper and try to get this story published.
I wonder if the FBI is really going to investigate this matter, or just sweep it under the rug as before. To me, the most significant point is that Mike Hagen had said that the Roberts had had custody of my daughter for "at least" 15 years. Note the words "at least". This would put it back to 1985. Of course, no such thing happened. The Roberts were awarded custody for the first time in Virginia in June 1991, which was eight months after they had kidnapped her in October, 1990. Thus, they were still guilty of kidnapping. Obviously, somebody is saying that they had custody at an earlier date, but they do not have documents to prove it.
Many of my documents proving that they did not have custody I have just posted on my web site, along with documents I copied in the Aiken County Probate Court.
Sam Sloan
UPDATE: Shamema is now in VMA-214, the Blacksheep Squadron
Here are links: