Richard Luthmann
Mother Loses Hague Convention Custody Battle as Ventura Judge JoAnn Johnson Sides with Estranged Husband, Ignoring Abuse Claims
By Richard Luthmann
A California mother is fighting a court order to deport her three young children to Italy. The children, aged eight, six, and two, are U.S. citizens.
On August 26, Ventura County Superior Court Judge JoAnn Johnson gave the children of Sara Young “the boot” to “the Boot.” They have minimal ties to Italy. The judge ruled that Young’s children must be sent to Italy by September 3, following the petition filed by Young’s estranged husband, Daniel Bichanich, under the Hague Convention.
“This ruling will rob my children of any future relationship with their primary caretaker, their mother,” Young stated after the ruling. “I am shocked and outraged that a U.S. family court judge would deport three U.S. citizen children to a foreign country they have no ties to, aside from the fact that their father owns a house there.”
The battle began when Bichanich, represented by high-profile Los Angeles attorney Peter A. Lauzon, filed a petition under the Hague Convention. Bichanich claimed the children were wrongfully removed from Italy and should be returned. He asserted that Italy was their “habitual residence.”
The mother, who represented herself, disputes the claims in this Hague Convention custody battle. She argues the family’s actual habitual residence was in Jordan until May, when she returned to California with her children after fleeing what she described as an abusive marriage.
“Our family was most recently habitually resident in Jordan from August 2022 to May 2024,” Young stated in opposition to Bichanich’s petition.
She provided the court with extensive documentation, including school attendance records in Jordan as well as Jordanian residency visas for the children, to support her claim that Jordan, not Italy, was their habitual residence.
The difference between Jordan and Italy is significant since Jordan is not a signatory of the Hague Convention. Italy is a signatory.
Young’s children could not be deported to Jordan.
The Hague Convention custody battle has garnered attention, with journalists Richard Luthmann, Megan Fox, and Michael Volpe discussing it on “The Unknown Podcast.” They criticized Judge Johnson’s decision, questioning whether she was “asleep at the wheel” or if the fix was in, given the evidence presented by Young.
Young’s legal filings paint a disturbing picture of life with Bichanich. She alleges he was abusive towards her and the children, describing numerous incidents of physical, verbal, and emotional abuse that escalated in early 2024.
“Daniel became increasingly abusive and would often scream at me in front of the children, demanding that they take his side,” Young stated in court papers.
In addition to the abuse allegations, Young highlighted the challenges she would face with a move to Italy. Italian law requires non-citizens to have employment to register for residence, a condition she would struggle to meet due to her lack of fluency in Italian and the country’s high unemployment rate. The children do not speak Italian either, she says.
“I would be financially crippled and homeless if I were to relocate to Italy,” she stated, noting that Bichanich had restricted her access to marital assets, leaving her with no means to support herself and the children in a foreign country.
Despite these concerns, Judge Johnson sided with Bichanich and ordered the children to go with their father to Italy. In her ruling, Johnson, ignoring the evidence provided by Young, concluded Italy was the children’s habitual residence under the Hague Convention.
Young accused the father of “forum shopping,” arguing that Bichanich deliberately chose Italy as the jurisdiction for their divorce and custody battle because it would be more favorable to him. Bichanich had filed for divorce in Italy. Young claims he do so without her knowledge while the family was in Jordan.
His blindsiding move put her at a significant disadvantage in the legal proceedings.
“The children do not speak Italian or identify with Italian culture. They are American, through and through,” Young asserted. Her husband was stationed in Jordan for his work and Young, a stay at home mother, went with him with their children. Now she faces never seeing them again.
She fears moving the three children to Italy without their primary caretaker, their mother, would be traumatic, and placing them in the care of a father she describes is abusive.
Young shares concerns about misuse in Hague Convention custody battles. If Young’s claims are true, her husband, through perjury, in Ventura Country Court, weaponized the Hague Convention, originally intended to prevent international child abduction, against protective parents. By the husband substituting Italy for Jordan as the children’s habitual residence, he arranged for the removal of his children from the USA and from their mother.
Young believes the misuse of the Hague Convention has stripped her of her children, forcing them into a potentially harmful environment in Italy.
When contacted by this outlet, Attorney Peter A. Lauzon dismissed Young’s allegations as “patently false,” urging caution in reporting on the case. He suggested journalists obtain the court order and transcripts before publishing anything.
This outlet sought follow-up:
From: Richard Luthmann
Subject: Re: Bichanich v. Young, Ventura County Superior Court
To: Peter Lauzon <plauzon@lpfamilylaw.law>Thank you for your prompt reply. Be assured we have engaged in rigorous journalistic review of these facts. And we are concerned about the folllowing:
How do you know that the court orders are correct and based upon the truth?
How do you know that your client isn’t lying to you?
Records indicate that the family resided in Amman, Jordan, for many years as their home. Are these records false? Are international airlines, Facebook, and others conspiring to injure your client and change reality?
You client was in Jordan as an habitual resident. Your client’s sworn statements when held up against the evidence show him to be a liar and a perjurer.
Maybe you can sleep at night knowing that your client will steal children through false pretenses and outright lies, and that Judge JoAnn Johnson may be asleep at the wheel, but the evidence tells a far different tale than the one your client has spun for the Ventura County, California Superior Court.
Do you have any response?
Regards,
Richard Luthmann
Writer, Journalist, and Commentator
Attorney Lauzon did not respond as of press time.
As the September 3 deadline approaches, Young is scrambling to appeal the decision and keep her children in the U.S. She has requested the custody proceedings remain in California, not Italy, where the children have significant cultural and familial connections.
“The children are happy and thriving here in California,” Young told the court. “They have made friends, are surrounded by extended family, and are registered to start school soon. Moving them to Italy would be devastating.”
The outcome of this case could have far-reaching implications for international custody disputes and the interpretation of the Hague Convention. Despite overwhelming odds, the mother continues to fight for her children’s safety and well-being. She seeks a stay so she can plead with the court to reconsider its decision and allow her children to remain in the country of their citizenship.
Otherwise, her three small children will be on a plane to Italy with their father, who will undoubtedly win full custody, since the mother cannot afford to fight custody in Italy. Once he wins custody, he needs to no longer remain in Italy, but can return to Jordan or anywhere else in the world with his three kids, all the marital assets and no mother.
Richard Luthmann is a writer, editor, and investigative journalist.
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Reading all the comments and am disgusted. I know both Danny and Sara. Danny is a controlling egomaniac who has never been a hands on father. He has money and power, and has been verbally abusive for many years. Unfortunately, Danny was always Sara’s blind spot; didn’t see the red flags. Danny’s job required him to move around – worked in different African countries, Philippines, and for the last several years, Jordan. Before Sarah and Danny were married, he bought the Italian house. Sara oversaw the renovation while he bounced around the world working. After they started having children, Sara wanted to live with Danny in whatever country he was assigned. There home the last few years has been Jordan. Whether you like the reporter or not, please look at the situation of this American mother. Everything the reporter has written is truthful.
You’re as insane as Sara…. Also as if she didn’t also work around the world. Please.
This is devastating. The young children have never known a life without their mother and now they’re being ripped from her. This is beyond traumatic for children. I can’t fathom the pain the children are enduring in not knowing if they’ll ever see their mother again. Massive trauma. A living hell for the children and mother. No good father in the world would allow this for this children. There’s so much wrong w this, diabolical.
Their mother kidnapped them and took them to a state they’ve never lived.
Frank-
Rich claims to be a defender of free speech. He shouldn’t care if you publish my last comment.
Welp, guess the convicted felon now reporter didn’t manage to move the needle on this one.
I think we did. Judge JoAnn Johnson is now identified as a rogue and we can keep an eye on her – like so many others.
Mike Volpe and Megan Fox summed up a lot about this story on the podcast.
Volpe reminded us that the Hague Convention is a tool often used by wealthier, more powerful fathers to further victimize women and child.
Megan pointed to the systemic bias against pro se litigants in the Family Courts.
Sara Young’s story is cautionary, and there are still some more updates to come.
The fact that certain dopes attack the writer and not the content further shows the story is having some effect.
You are a desperate fat retard, Richard. There… another score for your side.
😂
I revel in your hatred. It is a sign of my effectiveness.
Italian law requires non-citizens to have employment to register for residence
She has a EU passport, so she will have no problem finding work.
“They obtained Italian permanent residency as a matter of right because they also have Croatian passports. They have a right to permanent residency anywhere in the EU, correct?”
Obtaining permanent residency in Italy for holders of EU passports requires five years of continuous residency.
DOH!
You’d might make more money at this if you did more than just copy/paste from your customer’s email, Richard.
Means nothing. It’s admitted that the husband owns property in Italy. There was a mailing address there for more than five years. And?
They lived there. It was their main residence. Their kids were born there.
I have proof in text and email. That was their home. You’re a felon who’s also completely dumb.
Getting owned by a cow worshiper is PURE CUCK.
Oh Richie! You are so cute!
Both parents are permanent residents of Italy and three of their kids were born there… and you claim they “have minimal ties to Italy.”
A “technicality” right, Richie?
Like it is a “technicality” you are a felon after having pleaded guilty to multiple felony crimes.
The only people dumber than you are the desperate, worthless parents who lose custody of their kids and hire you as their PR rep.
You have found your niche market, Richie! Good on you, chap!
Any updates on the criminal charges against your other client, Jersey Style Davie Weigel?
Hey THIRD WORLD.
How’s yo Momma? She doesn’t talk to you
How’s your boy? He doesn’t talk to you.
How’s your girl? You ain’t got no money, she gone.
How’s your member? Ain’t seen it for years.
How’s your lawyer? Daniel Nottes is shaking in his boots.
On the merits:
Mommy, Daddy, and kids are all US Citizens.
The family speaks English in the home.
Mommy and Daddy are US contractors abroad and get paid in US Dollars.
Daddy has a Croatian Passport because of his heritage. Mommy got one, too, through marriage, and it makes them EU members – able to apply for permanent residency in all EU nations.
The family lived in Lebanon. That was home.
Daddy owned property in Italy, the family quarantined there for COVID-19, and the children were physically born there because of the better medical facilities.
Only you, THIRD WORLD, think Ethiopia has good medicine. What woman would want the “rusty saw” cesarian?
The links to Italy are minimal. For the children, you might as well deport them to Alpha Centurion because they know about as much of the language and the way of life.
The real story here is that Attorney Peter Lauzon didn’t return my calls before publication. Now, we caught him with his hand in the cookie jar and thumb in the scale while the judge was either asleep at the wheel or in on it. He’s doing damage control.
If my reporting weren’t having an impact, it would have been ignored – not responded to and poo-pooed.
The first thing they say when you’re right and they’re dirty is that you’re not a real journalist or you’re a fake journalist. The US Government did it to Glenn Greenwald when he broke the Edward Snowden story.
I hit a nerve.
Comparing yourself to Glenn Greenwald?!
HAHA! The only thing you have in common with that excellent journalist is that you are both gay.
When is the worthless mom gonna get custody back, Richard?
After your televised deposition of incorruptible_bk?
Actually this Richard clown is probably comparable to Glenn and that’s not a good thing.
It’s hilarious bc it’s lmoat like he has an interest in a case.
Dude, she’s not that hot. And she’s absolutely fucking crazy.
Now it’s Richie’s turn to get roasted!
—How’s yo Momma? She doesn’t talk to you.
Doing better than yours! Yo momma has ur retarded ass living at home. You still watching her shower? You sick fuck.
//////////
—How’s your boy? He doesn’t talk to you. How’s your girl? You ain’t got no money, she gone.
How’s your $20 whore still paying her with spare change and IOUs? How’s your Oldboy you still sucking his dick? You learned a few things in prison. LOL
//////////////
—How’s your member? Ain’t seen it for years.
LOL! How’s your member? You haven’t seen it for years neither-cuz your gut is in the way. I bet you use forklift to take a piss. You fat fuck.
\\\\\\\\
—How’s your lawyer? Dankiel
He’s doing better than you! He can still practice law.
\\\\\\\\\\
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
—Nottes is shaking in his boots.
On the merits:
….And you’re waddling around in your boots smoking Merits®️ https://images.app.goo.gl/qLwF6cFbnEzcTPAT7
\\\\\\\\\\\\
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
You’re a journalist like ShadowState1958 is a journalist. You ass clown!
Hope you making them big bucks -Uber driving in monmmy’s car on Staten Island.
***
FYI Richard:
It’s only fair! Don’t throw rocks if you live in a glass house or your mommy’s home.
You don’t know where I live dopey. I ain’t on paper anymore.
Thank God I don’t have to worry about a law license. I can enjoy freedom of speech. It’s more important to me to be authentic than to “win” in sophistry. Talk to Socrates.
I ain’t THIRD WORLD. I’m going to eat a hamburger.
And I ain’t dead yet. No matter how hard they try.
—You don’t know where I live dopey. I ain’t on paper anymore.
No listed address, “not on paper”, ohhhh!
It’s called the YMCA Richard. It’s free! Nothing to brag about only one step above Motel 8.
Mommy kicked you out. Good for her!
You’ve got me. Have cock will travel. Ask your sister.
Happy to be renting space in your head for free.
The Children’s parents, Daniel Bichanich (“Bichanich”) and Sara Young (“Young”), are permanent legal residents of Italy. (See Dkt. 1-1, Petition for Relief under the Hague Convention [] (“Complaint”) at ¶¶ 10-11). The couple commenced divorce and child custody proceedings in Italy on February 6, 2024. (See id. at ¶ 14). In mid-May, 2024, Young took the Children with her to California, without Bichanich’s consent. (See Id. at ¶¶ 17-19).
Crazy. How reading the actual lawsuit makes the histrionics in this article head scratching.
Thanks for calling me back Attorney Lauzon. Both parents are US Citizens. Sara Young shows evidence that they lived in Jordan. They obtained Italian permanent residency as a matter of right because they also have Croatian passports. They have a right to permanent residency anywhere in the EU, correct?
Their ties to Italy are that they quarantined there, the husband owns some property there, and some of the children were born there – as opposed to Ethiopia. So next time Attorney Peter Lauzon gets a paper cut, his LA doctors should send him to find the mobile Winnebago practicing Ethiopian medicine in East LA?
Completely circumstantial that 3 children who aren’t triplets, were born in the same place in which they live.
I think you need a dictionary.
I’m not sure what that means or has anything to do with the price of tea in China.
Of course the judge in the Jew’s pocket sends the kids to Italy. Where is the Catholic Church based? Who runs the Catholic Church since the beginning? Jesus was a Jew. America needs to wake up. Sara Young needs to exercise ALL her constitutional rights.
Frank, not to distract from this story, but what happened to the parental alienation story? That criminal Linda who didn’t do her interview.
LOL
Richard you fight overseas attorneys as well as you do prison rapists.
You make a lot of noise while you bend over.
LOL
I’m sorry you’re jealous.
Kids, all marital assets and no mother is the result of family court abuse and racketeering throughout our country.
Family courts are for profit entities with protocols designed to line the pockets of attorneys. That’s it. That’s all there is.
Often the kids are handed to the abuser with “no contact” orders to keep the protective parent, and often primary caregiver away from the children- to silence their cries.
Judicial discretion void of evidence allows family court judges to implement “no contact orders” against innocent parents and children. Isolation like this induces trauma and is court endorsed child abuse. There are no findings of unfitness against the isolated parent- this is a tactic to traumatize parents and children as the children are trafficked to the monied parent.
This case is no different. The father is merely using a convenient tactic of Italy to pay to move the children from one location to another for money.
Thank you for continued coverage on the family court crises.
The plan is for the children to never see their mother again. Otherwise this judge would have ordered them back but included a legally binding parenting schedule where the mother was awarded at least half the time with her children.
I don’t believe that was done.
Now she will be forced to fight for custody in Italian courts-
Rich-
Did the judge grant the father full legal and physical custody?
If she relocates to Italy (I realize it’s financially impossible at the moment) – but if the mom relocated to Italy tomorrow- what parenting time/arrangement is currently in place?
Please advise. Thank you.
Family court ignoring abuse- a daily occurrence.
Best interest of child statute was created to violate the 14th amendment and give judges and gals unlimited power.
There are supposed to be 16 criteria to be considered but there is no accountability- no rubric or assessment for which a judge or gal must document and support their conclusions.
The Wild West of family court where all that matters is money.
Thank you for continued coverage of family court child abuse. No mainstream media will cover it and our children are being traumatized and isolated from living parents.
It’s all about the money. Law has no bearing in family court. These judges are child abusers.
Rich-
Can’t answer any of my questions can you?
Come out and play!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7UEmYGp5VxY
If your arguments had any merit, you’d be able to debate me, but you can’t…..
Rich thank you for answering my question.
Best wishes
Peter Lauzon is a child trafficker. He needs to be charged and prosecuted!! He is a PEDO!!
Sadly, this type of situation is occuring daily in family courts. These children have been trafficed off. Will they ever see their mother again?
Rich,
Did you contact and advise Sara Young to hire an attorney?
Within the first 30 seconds.
I apologize!
Thanks for responding!
Everyone please note: Gary Cohen was NOT involved in this case and its outcome.
Very funny Rich……
Did you advise her to see an attorney?
Or would that ruin your BS narrative.
I am not Richard Luthmann pretending to be a fan of the great Gary Cohen!
F’ U. NutJob!!!!
Such a lowlife. No wonder you are jealous of the great Gary Cohen