Israeli-American who claimed domestic abuse led her to ‘abduct’ kids is released
Leah Koppel, 60, left the US eight years ago for Israel with her three children, saying her spouse had been abusing them; a US court closed her case this week
An Israeli-American woman who was recently arrested in Crete and then extradited to the US for allegedly kidnapping her three children many years ago was released Thursday. Leah Koppel’s case was formally closed following a plea bargain struck between her lawyers and the US Attorney General’s Office earlier this week.
Koppel, 60, was ordered by a California court to pay a symbolic $270 fine before she was released, putting an end to a legal saga that saw her wanted by US authorities since moving with her children to Israel in 2014.
The three kidnapping charges Koppel initially faced were converted to the misdemeanor of keeping her children away from their father, reports said. She was sent by the court to a nearby incarceration facility, where she was registered and immediately released.
Koppel left the US eight years ago with her three children, claiming that her husband at the time had been abusing them. Her husband claimed that she had kidnapped the children, and a warrant was issued for her arrest.
In 2015, soon after arriving in Israel, the country’s Supreme Court ruled against ordering her deportation to the US and instead granted her citizenship.
Koppel and her children took a cruise to Crete last month to celebrate her youngest daughter’s 18th birthday and she was arrested when she docked at the Greek island.
She had believed she was no longer in criminal danger, given the court ruling, the fact that her husband had died and that her children were no longer minors.
The arrest was carried out by local authorities responding to an Interpol warrant.
Following her attorneys’ advice, she extradited herself to the US, where she faced a quick trial and was ultimately freed.
“I am pleased with the plea deal reached between myself and the US attorney general that will see Leah only fined and not incarcerated due to the unusual circumstances, under which she and her children went through ongoing abuse by the father of the children,” attorney Nir Yaslovitzh told the Walla news site.
“Now, Leah and her children will be able to live without restraints or fear and that should be celebrated,” he added.
