MARIA LOPEZ-VASQUEZ - 1 yo - Orlando FL

ORLANDO -- A 1-year-old child was reunited with her parents Tuesday night at Orlando International Airport.Lake
County Sheriff's deputies said Maria Lopez-Vasquez' parents called them
for help, saying that Laura Caballero took their daughter and never
came back.According to the sheriff's office, the parents -- Jose
Ochoa-Avalos and Adai Lopez-Vasquez -- became acquainted with Caballero
in 2007 when Lopez-Vasquez was pregnant with Maria. When Maria was
born, the parents said Caballero became eager to help with her and
"controlling" in the time she spent with the girl.The parents
said at one point Caballero took Maria threatened them with deportation
and said she would report them to the Department of Children and
Families. But when Maria's parents notified Eustis police that
Caballero was refusing to return the child to them, the girl was
returned.The parents said Caballero then trIed to offer them $2,000 to keep the child, but the parents refused.Ochoa-Avalos
and Lopez-Vasquez said they moved from Eustis to South Carolina last
June to find work and to get away from Caballero.The parents
also allege that in July, after Lopez-Vasquez lost a child in labor,
Caballero came to the hospital in South Carolina and convinced them to
let her take the girl to a relative's home in South Carolina.But
deputies said Caballero went back to Florida and refused to return the
child. Deputies later found out that Caballero took the child to
Argentina in August.Caballero was arrested in Miami after getting off a plane from Argentina.Maria was returned to her parents, who now live in Lake County, around 9:45 p.m. Tuesday. Deputies said Caballero is reportedly a director of St. Filumena Church in Eustis.

Two old child-custody cases joined the investigation of a once-missing
2-year-old from Lake County because all had one person in common: Laura
Maria Caballero.

The woman, who calls herself in court documents "Sister Mary of The Trinity," tried to gain custody of a Leesburg woman's two children in 1998 so her Argentine sister could adopt the minors, according to court records.

In another case dating to 2005, a Volusia County mother blamed
Caballero for exacerbating a child-custody dispute between her and her
ex-husband, who she said got involved with Caballero's church nearly 15
years ago.

The old cases surfaced after Lake County authorities said Caballero, a sister at St. Filumena Catholic Church in Eustis, had been arrested on a felony count of false imprisonment after taking off with 2-year-old Maria Lopez-Vazquez.

The child, separated from her parents for more than six months and
flown to Argentina, was reunited with the Eustis couple late Tuesday at
Orlando International Airport.

Caballero told Lake County investigators she had a signed "power of
attorney" document giving her authority to take Maria, according to an
investigative report. However, that document later proved unreliable
when detectives learned it was notarized without some of the people who
signed the document present.

Now that more information about Sister Mary is coming out, the case may
well lead to something "greater than we initially thought," Lake County Sheriff's Office Lt. John Herrell said Thursday.

"If nothing else, it appears that a very clear and consistent pattern
of behavior is starting to emerge, and we're interested to see where
this leads us."

The Sheriff's Office has contacted the FBI and secured its continued assistance should "jurisdictional boundaries" become an issue, he said.

Reached late Thursday, Caballero said, "I'm not going to talk right now, OK?"

Investigators are learning more about Caballero's history and possible
guardianship of other children. They continue a search for anyone who
has had a similar experience with Caballero in an attempt to learn as
much about her as they can.

At least two women, including Carol Stillwagon of Volusia County, have
come forward with information the Sheriff's Office considers valuable
in this case. And Herrell said the detective working the case wants to
speak with officials administering the guardian ad litem program in
Tavares to determine Caballero's involvement.

In the 1998 case involving two minors, Caballero said Robina Robertson
gave her signed consent to take the kids, but Robertson denied consent
to the adoption of the children.

Caballero provided the court with a signed document indicating
Robertson was terminating her own parental rights. She argued she
should be the guardian "given her involvement with the children."

Lake County Circuit Judge Jerry T. Lockett denied Caballero's petition,
finding her signed document as "legally insufficient." The document's
signing should have been witnessed by two witnesses; only one was
present.

The judge also expressed concerns about how the supposed consent was achieved.

"Robina Robertson was facing possible jail time and was concerned about
what would happen to her children while she was in jail if she was
indeed incarcerated," Lockett wrote in his order. "Robina Robertson
signed all of the documents under the duress of possible incarceration
and under undue influence of the Sister."

In the 2005 case, Caballero requested a restraining order against Carol Stillwagon of Edgewater
on behalf of St. Filumena Catholic Church. She claimed Stillwagon
"falsely accused" church members so a judge would rule in her favor in
a child-custody case with her former husband.

Stillwagon made "serious false accusations" about her church and its
members, including intent of kidnapping respondents' children,
endangering the children, teaching Satanism to the children and
teaching the children to disrespect their mother, Caballero's filing
states.

A judge issued a temporary restraining order in the case, saying
Stillwagon could not come within 100 feet of the church. Stillwagon
denied all of Caballero's allegations. After a hearing in mid-2005, the
judge in that case, Mark Hill, dissolved the temporary order and
dismissed the petition.

Three years later, in 2008, Stillwagon told police that her ex-husband,
James Wardner, had refused to return four of her children from a visit
and kept them from her for nearly two months.

When she drove to Wardner's north Brevard County home, she found Caballero there, according to a police report.

The next day, Stillwagon called Wardner's cell phone and spoke briefly
with one of her children before being disconnected. When she called
back, Caballero answered, the report states. Stillwagon asked what her
involvement was in the child-custody case, and Caballero denied any.

Messages left at Wardner's office and with his answering service were
not returned Thursday. The state alleged that he concealed a child
contrary to a court order, a third-degree felony.

Wardner entered a two-year pretrial-diversion program Aug. 5, 2008. If
he abides by court-ordered custody and visitation terms and does not
violate any laws, charge will be dismissed. Caballero was not charged.

TAVARES – A self-described nun, accused of taking a child to
Argentina without her parents' permission, did not appear in Circuit
Court this morning.But Ronald Fox, an attorney for Laura Maria
Caballero, 53, also known as Sister Mary, entered a not-guilty plea on
her behalf on a related charge of witness tampering.She is the
leader of St. Filumena Catholic Church, a Eustis church that is not
affiliated with the Catholic Diocese of Orlando.Caballero, who
has also pleaded not guilty to interfering with custody and false
imprisonment, is accused of attempting to "alter" the testimony of Lidia
Barrera, who notarized a power-of-attorney document that Caballero used
to take 2-year-old Maria Lopez to Argentina.Detectives say
Caballero, who kept the toddler for six months, did not have her
parents' permission to take the child.In a probable-cause
affidavit, Lake County detectives said Caballero "persistently
contacted" Barrera and told Barrera to "just keep saying that you don't
remember" if anyone witnessed the signing of the documents.Detectives
contend the document was notarized before anyone had signed it.Fox
also entered a not guilty plea for a close friend and supporter of
Caballero, Andrew Hendrick, 33, who is accused of three felony counts of
leaving the scene of an accident with injury.He was driving a
vehicle Feb. 18 that reportedly clipped several TV news photographers
who were waiting for Caballero to emerge from the Lake County Jail.