Father Who Once Abducted His 2 Children Is Arrested

Shayna Gluck Lazarevich fought a long, hard legal battle to win her children back from her ex-husband, who abducted them from California and took them to war-torn Yugoslavia. Fearing that he might take the children again, she pressured authorities to punish him with a long sentence in a U.S prison.

In August, when Dragisa Lazarevich was finally deported from the United States after serving a brief sentence for federal crimes, Shayna Lazarevich appeared to be rid of her ex-husband at last.

But on Saturday, Dragisa Lazarevich showed up again, not far from his ex-wife’s Santa Cruz home.

Santa Cruz County authorities say that Dragisa Lazarevich, 45, was preparing to abduct his children again when he decided to use a pay phone at the University of California campus, where his ex-wife is a student.

Fortunately for her, the phone was just a few feet from the old converted barn that is the headquarters of the UC Santa Cruz police.

Officer Dale Kahoun, who was returning to the station after completing his patrol shift, recognized Dragisa Lazarevich from the original 1989 abduction investigation and arrested him.

“I never thought this guy would be stupid enough to return to Santa Cruz County,” said Dave Genochio of the district attorney’s office. “But he was.”

Sasha and Andre Lazarevich, 7 and 5 years old at the time of their abduction eight years ago, were returned to Shayna Lazarevich by Serbian officials in 1995 after she waged a six-year public battle in Belgrade and Washington.

Sasha and Andre are now 15 and 12. Their mother says that she fears her ex-husband may try to harm her.

Santa Cruz County filed child abduction charges against Dragisa Lazarevich in 1989 after he first fled to Europe with the children.

Dragisa Lazarevich was extradited on passport charges and convicted of passport fraud in Los Angeles federal court last February. He was deported after serving a sentence that consisted largely of credit for time he had spent in prison awaiting trial.

When he returned to Santa Cruz on his own this month, authorities there were free to arrest him on the original charges. He was charged with two counts of child abduction and two counts of attempted abduction.

He was being held at Santa Cruz County Jail on $1.1-million bail and is scheduled to be arraigned today, authorities said.

Shayna Lazarevich said police investigators told her that Officer Kahoun asked her ex-husband, “Why are you here?”

He answered, “To get my kids.”

Authorities said they did not know how Dragisa Lazarevich was able to return to the United States.