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Miami hospital allowed tribal police to kidnap newborn baby, parents say

 
Justin Johnson, 36, and his Miccosukee girlfriend, Rebecca Sanders, 28, display pictures of newborn Ingrid Ronan Johnson. She was taken from Baptist Hospital under an order issued by the Miccosukee tribal court at the request of the child's grandmother, Betty Osceola, a high-ranking tribal member. The couple has reported the seizure to Miami-Dade police.  Emily Michot - emichot@miamiherald.com
Justin Johnson, 36, and his Miccosukee girlfriend, Rebecca Sanders, 28, display pictures of newborn Ingrid Ronan Johnson. She was taken from Baptist Hospital under an order issued by the Miccosukee tribal court at the request of the child's grandmother, Betty Osceola, a high-ranking tribal member. The couple has reported the seizure to Miami-Dade police. Emily Michot - emichot@miamiherald.com
Published March 21, 2018

A smiling baby with a thick head of black hair, Ingrid Ronan Johnson was born to a Miccosukee mother and a white father, inside Baptist Hospital in Kendall.

Two days later, police detectives arrived at the hospital acting on a court order to remove the baby from the new parents.

The order was not signed by a Florida judge, but by a tribal court judge on a reservation 32 miles away in the heart of the Everglades. The cops were from the Miccosukee police force, a department whose jurisdiction covers mainly the reservation and properties owned by the tribe.

The hospital on Sunday allowed the baby to be taken away.

The parents, Rebecca Sanders and Justin Johnson, are now heartbroken and outraged — filing complaints with Miami-Dade police, state prosecutors and the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs. On Tuesday, they told the Miami Herald that the tribal court order was a sham, concocted by the baby's vengeful maternal grandmother, Betty Osceola, who simply did not want a white father to be a part of the child's life.

"I'm still trying to wrap my head around how this has happened," Johnson, 36, said tearfully. "I can't even begin to explain how hard this has been. I don't see how people of the Miccosukee tribe can look me in the face and tell me this is OK."

Said Sanders, 28, a tribal member: "I feel like I have no rights. I thought the tribe was to protect its people, not use its own rulings to control its people."

By Tuesday evening, after inquiries from the Herald, Miami-Dade Director Juan J. Perez said his department had initiated an "immediate inquiry" into what happened. "Once we have additional information, we can determine what, if any, additional steps are necessary," he said.

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The incident is the latest test of the legal authority of the court and police department with the sovereign Miccosukee tribe, which has clashed with state authorities for years over jurisdiction. Investigators and the child's parents also have questions for Baptist hospital, which allowed tribal police to remove the baby from her birth mother.

A hospital spokesman, Dori Alvarez, declined to comment on specifics because of federal patient privacy laws. In a statement, however, she stressed that Miami-Dade police officers also accompanied tribal police to "enforce a court order" that day.

"We obeyed law enforcement. It is our hospital's policy to cooperate with Miami-Dade law enforcement as they enforce court orders," the statement said.

The tribe's legal adviser, Jeanine Bennett, did not respond to an email seeking comment. "Jeanine said the tribe has no comment on pending tribal court matters," said an employee who answered the phone at the Miccosukee's legal department.

Calls to the office of Miccosukee chairman Billy Cypress went unanswered. Osceola, who owns the Buffalo Tiger Airboat Tours, did not answer repeated calls to her cellphone.

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The tribal order granted Osceola custody of the baby, but their whereabouts are unknown. Her daughter said she lives off the reservation, in Collier County. If the baby is on the Miccosukee reservation itself, the state has no power — only federal authorities have jurisdiction there.

"It's horrific," said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle, whose office received a complaint from Johnson on Tuesday. "We don't really know what the recourse is at this point, but we will continue to review it and talk to other agencies."

A lawyer representing Sanders said the baby is missing out on crucial bonding time and breast feeding with her natural mother. "We don't know the health of the baby. We don't know if she is receiving proper care," said Fort Lauderdale attorney Bradford Cohen.

The Miccosukee tribe has about 600 members and owns a gambling resort at the corner of Krome Avenue and Tamiami Trail. Child custody disputes between Indians and non-Indians are not unusual in states with large Native American populations.

But they are rare in Florida, where the tribal population is less than 10,000. Under the state's child custody enforcement act, foreign countries are treated the same as other states when it comes to custody battles between parents.

In 2014, the Florida Supreme Court sided with a Miami man who alleged the Miccosukee court had no jurisdiction over a child-custody dispute involving his baby's mother, who is a tribal member. The local state courts ruled that the tribal court's procedures — which did not allow the father to testify or even have his lawyer inside court to watch — were legally substandard.

This case is markedly unique. The birth parents are on the same side. And the baby is not yet a tribal member and may never be — Ingrid does not have enough Miccosukee blood to qualify, according to the parents.

According to Sanders and Johnson, this is what happened:

Sanders, a former body builder who grew up on the Miccosukee reservation, met Johnson through fitness circles. He's a strength coach and therapist who helped her rehab a broken arm.

Most recently, they lived together in Arkansas, but had come down to Miami so she could help care for her ailing stepfather. The friction between the couple and Osceola escalated for months. "Betty has always shown disdain for me," Johnson said.

Osceola succeeded in getting Johnson, who is now working in Miami, banned from the reservation. He and Sanders decided to split, but remained amicable with plans to co-parent together.

On Friday morning, Osceola drove her daughter to Baptist's main hospital in Kendall. Sanders left her 11-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter — children from a previous relationship — in the care of her brother, who lives on the Seminole reservation.

Later on Friday, about 8:30 a.m., little Ingrid was born through a C-section surgery. In the recovery room, Osceola saw Johnson. That night, Osceola grew agitated with his presence. Sanders insisted she wanted Johnson there — and he would always be a part of the child's life.

"She threatened to take my kids away. She didn't want him there. She told told security he needs to be removed," Sanders recalled.

The hospital allowed Johnson to stay. But on Saturday, the next morning, while the baby was being tended to by doctors, a nursing supervisor entered the room accompanied by security and said "they had received phone calls that it would be in their best interest to have me removed," Johnson said.

The nurse did not say who was making the calls. Stunned, Johnson refused to leave until he got to see Ingrid.

"I remember kissing her forehead and telling her, 'Daddy will see you soon,' " Johnson said, tearfully. "I haven't seen my daughter since."

The distraught Sanders remained in the hospital. On Sunday morning, a doctor came and took the baby for what seemed a normal checkup. But then, in walked two Miccosukee police detectives, accompanied by hospital security and staff.

"The detectives asked me if I knew what was going on. They said, 'Your baby is being taken. She is no longer in your custody. You are not the mother anymore,' " Sanders recalled.

She identified the lead detective as Michael Gay, whom state records show has been with the tribal department since 2009. He could not be reached for comment. According to Sanders, he did not have a copy of the Miccosukee court order stripping her of custody of the newborn.

He also said if she went to the reservation, she would need to enter drug rehab. "I asked him for what. I don't do drugs," Sanders said.

The detectives left. Within minutes, she said, hospital security and uniformed Miami-Dade police officers escorted her out of the hospital; it is unclear who called the county officers, or if they knew the specifics of the tribal conflict.

Johnson picked up Sanders and the two immediately went to file a report at the Hammocks district station.

It was not until Monday that the tribal court emailed Sanders a copy of the legal documents. A petition filed by Osceola alleged that Sanders' autistic son had suddenly revealed that the parents had struck him — something both parents vehemently deny. The order stripping custody does not say Sanders did anything wrong, but stressed it is in the "best interest" of all three children that they remain in the custody of Osceola.

Former Miccosukee Police Chief Dave Ward, who is not involved in the case, said tribal court orders are not valid outside the reservation.

"In my opinion, the Miccosukee officers needed to present the tribal order to a state or federal judge in Dade, who would review it and issue an order allowing Miami-Dade police to follow through with removing the baby."

Ward also said he believed the hospital opened itself up to liability by allowing the child to be removed.

This story has been updated with a new statement from Baptist Hospital.