Man Who Kidnapped Son From Tampa, Took Him To Lebanon Sentenced

TAMPA, FL — A man who kidnapped his son from his mother in Tampa and took him to Lebanon has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for passport fraud and aggravated identity theft.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Virginia Hernandez Covington sentenced Ali Hussein Salamey, 40, of Dearborn, Michigan, who pleaded guilty on June 7.

Salamey, a citizen of both the United States and Lebanon, was originally accused of international parental kidnapping after he removed his 3-year-old son, Dexter, from his Tampa daycare center without the consent of his mother, Rachelle Smith, and flew with the boy to Beruit in 2018.

According to court documents, despite court orders prohibiting either parent from obtaining a passport for Dexter or taking the child out of state without permission of the court, Salamey applied for Lebanese travel documents from the Lebanese Embassy in Washington, D.C. for Dexter.

To do so, Salamey submitted a fraudulent consent form from Smith on which he had forged her signature, according to court documents. The embassy denied the application.

Salamey, who was living in Dearborn, Michigan, at the time, then attempted to obtain travel documents from the Lebanese Consulate in Michigan. This time, Salamey submitted a fraudulent judgment of paternity that he had altered to make it appear as if the court had awarded him sole parental custody. This time, the Lebanese consulate issued a Lebanese passport for Dexter.

On August 25, 2018, Salamey used the fraudulently acquired passport to take Dexter to Beirut, Lebanon. Lebanon is not a party to the Hague Convention, which obligates member countries to return children abducted abroad nor does it have an extradition treaty with the United States.

According to court documents, Salamey and Dexter remained in Lebanon for the next 10 months. Eventually, the Lebanese government agreed to help return the child to the United States. Dexter and Salamey returned to the United States on June 21, 2019, at which time the child was returned to his mother and Salamey was arrested.