Associated Press. Originally published Nov 30 2000.
Baltimore Sun.
MIAMI - A Florida woman who took her 5-year-old son to Cuba against his
father's wishes left the United States amid suspicions she had embezzled as much
as $150,000 from her employer.
Arletis Blanco, 29, is suspected of stealing from McKenzie Petroleum of Key
Largo, where she had been an office manager, the Monroe County Sheriff's Office
said yesterday.
Blanco failed to show up for work on Nov. 13, said Jessica McKenzie, finance
manager at the oil company. Blanco gave no notice, and McKenzie hasn't heard
from her since.
The Cuban-born Blanco sailed to Cuba on a fishing boat Nov. 12 with her son,
Jonathon, her boyfriend and their infant daughter. Blanco has said she wants
them to begin a new life on the island.
Her former husband, Jon Colombini, 31, a U.S.-born Homestead restaurant
manager who has joint custody of Jonathon, has gone to the State Department and
the Cuban government for help in getting the boy back.
The case drew attention initially because of its apparent parallel to that
of Elian Gonzalez, the Cuban boy who arrived in Florida in 1999 after surviving
a boat wreck in which his mother and her boyfriend were killed. After a long
court battle, Elian was returned to Cuba to be with his father.
Blanco's mother has turned over audio tapes in which her daughter tells of
stealing a large sum of money and leaving Florida to save her family from
embarrassment, said Becky Herrin, spokeswoman for the Monroe County Sheriff's
Office.
So far, Blanco has been charged only with interfering with shared custody
for taking her son out of the country. The embezzlement investigation is
continuing, officials say.
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