Man Convicted of Helping Kidnap Child for Ex-Lesbian Mother

Virginia businessman and Mennonite pastor Philip Zodhiates has been found guilty of helping a parent kidnap her child from her former lesbian partner in Vermont. 

Zodhiates drove Lisa Miller and her then-7-year-old daughter Isabella from Virginia to the Canadian border in 2009 where they flew from Toronto to Nicaragua. 

According to the prosecutors, Zodhiates enlisted help from a number of Mennonites in the United States and Nicaragua to help make living arrangements for the two. 

He is facing up to eight years in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for January 30. 

Miller became a Christian and renounced her homosexuality after the relationship with her former partner Janet Jenkins fell apart. But she had given birth to her daughter before the relationship dissolved. 

Jenkins had originally been awarded visitation rights. But that changed after Miller's daughter complained about sexual abuse during those visits. She said her daughter complained that Jenkins would get in the bathtub with her. The abuse made Isabella suicidal, Miller argued.

Miller was later found in contempt of court when she refused to handover custody to Jenkins. She and her daughter left the country before that could ever happen.

Both Miller and her daughter, who would now be 14-years-old, have not been seen in the United States since.  

Miller has been charged with international parental kidnapping, conspiracy, and is considered a fugitive.