Cary woman charged with abducting children to Mexico

McHenry County authorities issued an arrest warrant Tuesday for a Cary mother who took her children on a three-week vacation to her native Mexico last month and failed to return as ordered by a judge.

Sonia Leon De Carol, 42, is facing a felony child abduction charge stemming from allegations she may be planning to keep her children - a 5-year-old girl and 4-year-old boy - in Mexico and away from the father who shares their custody.

"We have no reason to believe that her intention is anything other than that," McHenry County Sheriff's Lt. Andrew Zinke said Wednesday. "She has gone out of her way to make it appear that she's not coming back with the kids."

Despite the objections of her former husband, James Carol, a court last month allowed Leon de Carol to take the children, Andrea and James, to visit family near Juarez, Mexico, on the condition she return no later than last June 26.

But after arriving in Mexico City, authorities say, Leon de Carol canceled her plane tickets back to the U.S. and has since made herself unreachable except for an occasional e-mail to her former husband.

"She has told him that the kids are OK and that there are no stresses (in Mexico)," sheriff's Detective Jennifer Garafol said.

A phone number she provided her ex-husband so that he could speak with his children while they were out of town was out of service, his attorney, Roberty Medansky said. And a rental lease she provided a judge to show she had lined up a place to live when she returned proved to be bogus, he said.

"(Carol) always had a concern that she might not bring the children home," Medansky said, adding that his client has not seen or heard from his children since June 4. "It's upsetting."

Leon de Carol's attorney, Karen Mensching, said she is still trying to learn more about her client's whereabouts and intentions, and could not comment on the allegations.

"I'm just hoping this will be resolved in a good way for the benefit of the children," she said.

Court records show Carol married his former wife, who was born in Mexico but now is a legal resident of the United States, in 2002. He filed for divorce four years later, citing extreme mental cruelty.

With the divorce final, the couple struck a joint parenting agreement last year giving her residential custody of the children, but allowing him frequent visitation and daily phone calls.

Medansky said his client is working with local and federal authorities in hopes of bringing his children home. He has no intention, Medansky said, of traveling to Mexico to "kidnap them back."

"He's going to follow the legal processes," he said. That includes a scheduled court hearing next week at which Carol will ask for full legal custody of the children.

The FBI, Interpol, the Mexican Consulate, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and U.S. State Department are among the agencies already involved, or expected to be involved shortly, in the case.

"We're just hoping we're wrong (about her intentions)," Medansky said.