This story started with a father who had had custody of his first two children since 1991 and who cared for his third child by the same mother until paternity was proved on said child. Upon establishing paternity, the court immediately granted him custody and ordered the child's name to be changed to the father's last name. This happened in the summer of 97. The mother had voluntarily signed custody of the first two children over to the father in court in 1991 and agreed to allow the children’s last names to be changed to the father’s last name.  The third child was conceived on the same day of this court hearing when the mother and father had a trist  The mother at the time was in a relationship with another for whom she had left the children and the father to be with.  The mother and father reconciled and resumed their relationship until after the third child was born.   However, the mother shortly after the child’s birth again left the children, including her oldest child, who didn’t belong to the father of the other three children, but who he had raised as his child since she was six months old, and the father at beginning of the Fall of 1992.  The father made one last attempt at final reconciliation with the mother, but it only lasted for about a year before the mother again abandoned the family, including her other child, for the last and final time in January of 1994.  The mother made no attempt at contacting the children until she was forced into watching the children with a family emergency in which the brother to the father, had to be rushed to a hospital with a temperature of 106.2, and their mother called her to come and stay with the children until their father returned from work.  Because the father didn’t have legal guardianship of her child he could not make any decisions which parents or guardians of children have to make legally.  Nevertheless, the mother had to be forced into taking her child with her at the behest of the police.  The mother rarely if ever exercised her right to visitation for nearly a year at which time the father decided to move South.  When the father's mother and brother decided to make a trip to visit the children, they took their (the children's) half-sister with them and asked their mother if she wanted to go along, but she declined.  The father returned to Indiana shortly thereafter with the children.  But, as he could not find work, he decided to return to the South.  It was at this time that the mother finally decided to exercise her right to visitation. The mother on a supposed pro bono basis enlisted the help of the law firm of Funk and Foster (prominent in Lake County Indiana) in 95. You will understand why I say supposed after you have followed the link of the third footnote and read the article.  Mr. Funk could never beat the father in court and the father could always cite cases to thwart the efforts of Funk and judge or referee who might be at the any one of numerous hearings to take custody of his children away from him.[1] Note: the hearings were not initially about custody, but rather visitation for the mother and child support for the father, however, it became a custody hearing the single time the father was unable to make it to court.  When all else failed, a mysterious call went in to Child Protective Services that the children were being neglected and abused and not attending school. The father had registered for home school in Feb. of 98 with the Indiana Department of Education and had a home school number.[2] A principal in Whiting had advised him to do so after several GALS and CASA's had been appointed who could at any point take the children into protective custody. Let me add that their three home studies had proved that the father was providing a good home for them. Funk used many delaying tactics, mostly especially, continuances to prolong the case.[3] The mother on each occasion, was granted continuance after continuance, while the father appeared in court on each occasion. Before the October 23, 98 hearing, the father requested in written form delivered by fax to his attorney a request for a continuance. Apparently the lawyer didn't adhere to this request because in an emergency hearing on Dec.11 the referee Tavitas issued a bench warrant for the father's arrest because of failure to appear in court [4]and for not placing the children back in an Indiana school. The mother was then granted temporary custody for this reason. Called, “for the best interest of the children”. This is a mother who is believed to be an illicit drug user and who let her then 12 year old daughter take her drug test.[5] The daughter later told us about this. The results of the test were highly suspect because the report stated that no drugs either prescribed or illegal were present, making this particularly questionable, since, by the mother’s own admittance, she was taking prescription antidepressants.  On the Dec.11 date, the father was found to be in contempt of the court for failure to enroll the children in school and sentenced to 30 days in jail but could purge this if he enrolled the children in school within two weeks and ordered the father not to remove the children from Indiana if he had not already done so. Note: he and the children had already left the state prior to this ruling.  The judge’s order was unlawful because they were already enrolled in a legally registered home-school.  Would you endanger your children and obey an unlawful, unconstitutional order or would you take steps to protect them?  Funny how his lawyer who had brought up the question of Child Protective Services "ever having investigated him," failed to appear for his client and instead Mark Gruenhagen that morning filed a motion to Withdraw appearance on behalf of the father. The court granted the motion. A further court date was set for Feb.19, 99. Father and children left the state to remain a family and the father chose to be on the run in order to protect his children. The family was told that he was charged for kidnapping the children and that a warrant was issued for his arrest.[6]The father remained concealed until August 2002 by living with the mother of his fourth child. As the mother of this child was preparing to relocate back in Indiana, she allowed the father to make use of her car to find another safe place for him and his children. The father, upon his return was told by the mother of the fourth child that the police had already been called and that she had reported the car stolen and their child kidnapped by him. Therefore, out of desperation and fear for the safety of the three children who might be given over to their mother, he fled in her car with all four children. His children. There is no custody order on the fourth child. We have been told that the mother of a child born out of wedlock automatically has legal custody of the child. This is the codified law in Indiana as well as the state of Tennessee where the most recent incident occurred.[7]  However, if they had been married and separated or divorced, a court hearing would be necessary to determine custody of the child. I assert that these laws violate the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments rights of due process and equal protection respectively. The father was under the false assumption that the parent who has physical custody of the child at the time has legal custody until a custody decree is declared in a court of law.  This is due to the fact that his brother was in a similar situation in the state of Alabama, where the child was born out of wedlock in Indiana, but the father obtained physical custody until he was awarded legal custody by the state of Alabama.  Ignorance of the law that is not well known or publicized should be a defense.  Now, the father of the fourth child is being sought by Tennessee authorities facing kidnapping and auto theft charges.  Indiana authorities in Hammond and Lake County are pushing to add kidnapping charges for the other three children as well.  Father and children remain in hiding as of now, but it is only a matter of time before the father is captured and children remanded to the custody of their respective mothers.   They are a very poor family with few resources that are inadequate to mount a credible defense.  If not for the actions of Cordel Funk and unscrupulous Lake County juvenile officials, the father would not be in the current situation.  The Times (local Northwest Indiana newspaper), as well as, Tennessee media are vilanizing the father as your average run-of-the-mill kidnapper.  The mother of the fourth child has told Tennessee authorities that she is not sure of the paternity of the child in question.  However, she has held the child out as belonging to the father to friends, family, and strangers alike.  There are numerous photographs of the child with his father in which his mother in her own handwriting names this man as the father, his mother as grandmother, his sisters as aunts, and his brothers as uncles.  Therefore, even if the child is not their blood relative, they were lead to believe by his mother that he was and is and have loved him as such.  If he is not, then his mother has perpetrated and committed a fraud.  This mother has a brother who is well connected to the mayor of Hammond and the mayor (they were told by a Hammond police official) is putting pressure on the prosecutors to bring charges against the father regarding his other three children.  His both disabled mother's and brother's, garage has been broken into in the past six months six times with their food being stolen on each occasion.  The last theft occurred on November 19^th.  The main suspect of who was seen fleeing from the previous burglary closely resembles another brother of the last child’s mother who lives a few houses down from their home.  But because of the lighting in their alley, his mother could not swear with 100% certainty that it was him. The full face of the suspect was not in view, but the suspect  has a very distinctive head of hair and a peculiar walk.  Several times the suspect left behind the tools he used to break in.  The police have refused to take any of this evidence with them for fingerprint analysis.  The single time that they did take a tool for fingerprint analysis, they warned the detective away from the case and have refused to tell them whether or not they identified the perpetrator based upon the clearly visible fingerprint. This bolsters their belief that it is the person they suspected.  The detective assigned to the case flat-out refused to question the suspect and seek a search warrant for his property.  They had labeled the food packages so that they would be readily identifiable. They are refusing to protect them  while persecuting this father  It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. I did a Web search on Lake County corruption and came across a web site titled Pigcircus.com.  I have found that this father is not the only father who has suffered at the hands of Cordel Funk and the Bonaventura-Miller triad. A credible source has informed the family that all family members phones have been wiretapped.  This is an incredible feat considering the number of people in their extended family.  We're talking multiple states!  They are treating this case as if the father is a member of Al Qaeda and his family are accomplices.  Consider the influence the fourth child's maternal uncle has that he can persuade Hammond city officials, Lake County authorities, local area news media, and Tennessee authorities and media, as well as, the FBI and America’s Most Wanted in waging this unprecedented campaign against a father whose only desire is to care for his children in peace and safety.  Let me reiterate that they are an ordinary family with very many constraints on their resources.  If they are unable to afford a proper legal defense, then corrupt government entities and their cohorts will succeed in destroying yet another innocent American family.  A house divided shall surely fall. The misinformation that is being disseminated can be found at www.thetimesonline.com website in the archives section by inputting the name Alex Kiral into the search field. More information on the corrupt politicians who run Lake County Indiana can be found here LakeCountyHallofShame.  Any networking capabilities you as an individual have within your community that would enable them to gain an adequate legal team would be of utmost importance and greatly appreciated.  Please donate any funds within your means to help restore justice.  An attorney with whom the father spoke with about the case estimates that the legal fees for a counterclaim for custody is around $25,000.  If we could get 25,000 people to donate a dollar each, we could afford a defense.  If you are able and willing to contribute more funds within your means, I would plead with you to do so.  However, if for some reason you’re either unable or unwilling to do so, I would ask you to at least make everyone you know aware of this site.  This isn’t a fraudulent Internet scheme.  If you respond to his brother’s e-mail address, he will send you his home address for verification of his identity. After he receives your response, I will ask my local bank to help him establish a valid and verifiable trust fund account. I genuinely believe in this father's love for his children.  I am not too proud to beg!  I beg of anyone and everyone to help them.  Any assistance you could provide would be helpful.  Help them  reunite their family.  Please don’t let corrupt government officials and people connected to them destroy this family.  Please forward this webpage address to everyone you know, any criminal and family   attorneys you may know of, to your member of Congress, your governor, President Bush, Attorney General John Ashcroft, and any news media outlets in your area and nationally, and any spiritual leaders who care about family and justice. Your support is important to their family. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers. 

Do these pictures convey an unhappy family or endangered children?

Andrew, the father (left)  the brother , Kenneth (center) Tuesday, Andrew’s first born (right)

          Above photo taken April 14^th 2002, Tuesday’s Birthday

Kimberly, Andrew’s youngest daughter (left) Mom and Grandma (center), Tuesday again (right)

          Above and below photos taken March 31^st 2002, Easter Sunday

Erik, Andrew’s oldest son (left) Mom and Grandma again (center), Andrew (top right) Alex, Andrew’s baby boy (right)