Child Reunited with His Father

April 3, 2010 - The FBI Salt Lake City Division’s Boise Office, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security, and the Boise Police Department announce that Max Gian Alcalde has been found in Nicaragua. He was reported missing in December 2008. His mother, Margaret Sanchez Mejia Dunbar Alcalde, was escorted back to the U.S. by FBI personnel and is in custody. She is charged in Ada County, Idaho with kidnapping in the second degree, a felony (Idaho code 18-4501(2)). The charges stem from a Boise Police investigation of child custody interference. Also, the FBI had obtained a federal warrant for Sanchez Mejia Dunbar Alcalde for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. The process is now underway to return Sanchez Mejia Dunbar Alcalde to Idaho. Max Gian Alcalde has been reunited with his father.

On March 26, 2010 with newly developed information, the FBI contacted the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS) in Managua, Nicaragua for assistance. DS personnel at its Regional Security Office in Managua, working in conjunction with the Nicaraguan National Police, traveled to Chinandega where they located Max Gian Alcalde and his non-custodial mother, Margaret Sanchez Mejia Dunbar Alcalde. As a result, the child was successfully reunited with his father in Managua with the assistance of the FBI Legat in Panama, DS’s Regional Security Office, and American Citizen Services Unit of the Embassy. Margaret Alcalde agreed to return voluntarily to the United States to face arrest and prosecution.

“With agents in 285 U.S. diplomatic missions around the world, Diplomatic Security is uniquely positioned to help overseas law enforcement locate, pursue, and apprehend fugitives,” said Jeffrey W. Culver, Director of the Diplomatic Security Service. “With today’s announcement, Diplomatic Security sends a strong message to criminals like Margaret Alcade: there is no safe harbor outside the United States.”

Because the U.S. State Department's Diplomatic Security Service is the most widely represented law enforcement organization in the world, DSS's capability to track and capture fugitives who have fled U.S. jurisdiction to avoid prosecution is unmatched. During 2009, DSS assisted in the resolution of 136 international fugitive cases.

The Bureau of Diplomatic Security is the U.S. Department of State's law enforcement and security arm. The special agents, engineers, and security professionals of the Bureau are responsible for the security of 285 U.S. diplomatic missions around the world. In the United States, Diplomatic Security personnel protect the U.S. Secretary of State and high-ranking foreign dignitaries and officials visiting the United States, investigate passport and visa fraud, and conduct personnel security investigations. More information about the U.S. Department of State and the Bureau of Diplomatic Security may be obtained at www.state.gov/m/ds.

“The successful outcome of this matter reflects the tireless work on behalf of the FBI divisions here in the United States and abroad over the course of the last year,” said John H. Morton, Supervisory Special Agent in the Boise, Idaho Resident Agency. The FBI acknowledges that a number of agencies collaborated in the apprehension of Sanchez Mejia Dunbar Alcalde and the safe recovery of Max Gain Alcalde. These agencies include the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security, The United States Attorney’s Office-District of Idaho, FBI Boise, FBI Legal Attaché Panama, FBI Houston, and the Boise, Idaho Police Department. A special thanks to the Nicaraguan National Police for their assistance in this matter.