An illegal migrant who allegedly forged a judge’s signature to kidnap his four children from child services – and then blamed the “brazen” forgery on a friend – was arrested with the kids’ mother by federal authorities.
Alan David Cadena, 43, and LayCee Shyann Sprouse, 34, of Riverside, are charged with misuse of federal judicial signatures for the wild scheme in which they allegedly filed a phony order for return of their kids, complete with a misspelling of the word “childrens.”
The alleged scam failed, and the couple was arrested by federal agents following a scheduled visit to the Riverside County Department of Public Social Services on Thursday.
Los Angeles’ top federal prosecutor Bill Essayli said Cadena, who is from Mexico and was caught on video filing the alleged forgery, tried to scam the system – and bring his own kids back into an unsafe situation.
“Not only did this defendant break our immigration laws, but he also violated our criminal laws by forging a federal judge’s signature,” said Essayli. “He will be held accountable for his brazen conduct to the fullest extent of the law.”
Essayli said the government would also seek to remove Cadena from the US.
The plot began in August of last year, when a witness reported child neglect by Cadena and Sprouse to the Riverside County Department of Public Social Services.
Investigators visited and determined their unsafe household necessitated the removal of all four children, citing unsanitary living conditions, recent drug use by both parents, general neglect, and Sprouse’s failure to address mental health issues.
Cadena and Sprouse appealed the action in Riverside County Superior Court, seeking the return of their children, but that attempt failed.
They went back to court in February, representing themselves in a federal civil rights lawsuit requesting an order for the return of their kids, but that also failed.
The couple then took matters into their own hands, filing fake paperwork with a forged signature of federal judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett with DPSS that ordered the return of their “childrens,” prosecutors say.
Surveillance footage from a Roverside Social service building on April 21 shows Cadena serving court documents to a clerk. But, two days later, Garnett said the signature was a fake and alerted the US Attorney’s office, according to court papers.
Three days after that, Cadena and Sprouse told the court under penalty of perjury that they were not responsible for the forgery and blamed a tire shop worker who was helping them in the case. But that person denied any part in the scheme.
Investigators served a warrant on Cadena, a freelance construction worker, and Sprouse, who is unemployed, searching their phones and laptop. They found a Google account used by Sprouse with mock-ups of the fake, “including the misspelling of the word ‘childrens,’” court papers state.
They also found an additional fake court document with “the forged signature of a Riverside Superior Court judge and a counterfeit seal of the court,” filed in January, court papers say.
The Riverside DA is investigating that forgery and is expected to file additional charges. Cadena and Sprouse are being held infederal custody and are scheduled to appear in court today.
Cadena denied knowing the document was a fake when he filed it in April.
“The county they don’t like me right now,” he said in a videotaped interview with investigators.
