Bay Shore Man Sentenced To Prison For Kidnapping His 2 Sons

BAY SHORE, NY - A Bay Shore man was sentenced to 21 months in prison on Wednesday for kidnapping his two sons to keep them out of the United States, according to the U.S. attorney.

Faycal Tahiri, 42, a practicing doctor, pleaded guilty in July before Chief U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon, who also imposed the sentence.

Between 2010 and 2015, Tahiri kept his 8-year-old and 10-year-old American-born sons outside of the United States to keep them away from their mother and moved them between Morocco, Europe and Saudi Arabia, the U.S. attorney said.

He then kidnapped his children to Saudi Arabia in December 2012, and lied to the children’s mother, the FBI, the Moroccan authorities, and an American court about the children’s whereabouts, the U.S. attorney said.

Tahiri kept his children out of contact with their mother for two years, until the children were located and returned to the United States thanks to the efforts of their mother and the FBI.

In addition to prison, Tahiri was sentenced to one year of supervised release.

“Faycal Tahiri, a naturalized U.S. citizen and practicing doctor, kidnapped his own children in order to keep them from their mother," Acting Manhattan U.S. Attorney Joon H. Kim said. "For more than two years, in defiance of court orders from both U.S. and Moroccan courts, he moved from country to country to prevent his young sons from seeing their mother. We are committed to prosecuting all those who, like Tahiri, unlawfully interfere with a parent’s right to be with her child.”

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