Father who kidnapped son, took him to Lebanon for 10 months gets two years in prison, federal officials say

TAMPA, Fla. - A father who kidnapped his son and took him to Lebanon was sentenced Thursday to two years in federal prison, the Department of Justice said. Ali Salamey, 40, pleaded guilty back in June to passport fraud and aggravated identity theft charges related to the case. 

The international custody battle first began in 2018 when Salamey used a fraudulently acquired passport to take his, at the time, 4-year-old son, Dexter, to Beirut, Lebanon, federal investigators said. Lebanon is not a party to the Hague Convention, which obligates member countries to return children abducted abroad and doesn't have an extradition treaty with the United States. 

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Salemy and the 4-year-old's mother, Rachelle Smith, were both prohibited by court orders to obtain a passport or take the child out of state without leave of the court, the DOJ said. Despite that, Salamey used a fraudulent maternal consent form to try getting travel documents from the Lebanese Embassy in Washington DC, according to investigators. 

Federal officials said the embassy denied the application. Salamey then used a fraudulent judgment of paternity that he altered to make it appear as if the court awarded him sole paternal responsibility to try getting the travel documents from the Lebanese Consulate in Michigan, the DOJ confirmed. 

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The consulate did issue a Lebanese passport for the 4-year-old, according to federal investigators. 

Salamey took Dexter to Lebanon on August 25, 2018, and both of them remained there for the next 10 months, DOJ officials said. 

The boy's mom, Rachelle Smith, made it her mission to get her son back home after Salamey took him to Lebanon. 

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She and her lawyer launched a media campaign to spread awareness and encouraged US Senators Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson to take action. She even flew to Washington D.C. to meet with the Florida senators and members of the Lebanese consulate.

Eventually, the Lebanese government agreed to help return the child to the United States. Salamey was arrested by federal officials as soon as he and his son returned on June 21, 2019. The 4-year-old boy was reunited with Smith at Tampa International Airport.