May 18, 2015 at 5:20 p.m.
Mother of missing boy charged with violating court ruling
Mother of missing boy charged with violating court ruling
Tatum L. Smith is charged with violating a family court order issued by Vilas County Circuit Court Judge Neal Nielsen III April 7 that prohibits her from having contact with her son, Reed Smolinski, for 60 days. The only exception to the ruling is a single 30-minute phone conversation per week to be monitored by the child's father, Donald M. Smolinski, who has primary placement of the child under the terms of the couple's 2005 divorce.
According to the police report attached to the criminal complaint filed Wednesday, Smith is accused of helping Reed Smolinski after he went missing the weekend of April 24-27. The state says it has a video recording that shows Smith dropping the child off at one of the doors of the high school on April 27. According to the report, the child spent the weekend at Smith's house while she was out of town.
When he was returned to his father, he allegedly ran away again and has not been seen since.
Smith made her initial appearance on the contempt charge via video from the Oneida County Jail May 13.
According to Assistant District Attorney Steve Michlig, after Donald Smolinski started placing posters around Minocqua seeking information regarding his son's whereabouts, Smith was recorded on video at an area gas station removing one of the signs. She is also accused of causing a disturbance at the Trig's grocery store in Minocqua while trying to remove a sign.
"This is the mother of a 15-year-old child who has been missing for two weeks and she is trying to thwart any effort to find him," Michlig said.
He added that Smith is "actively trying to keep the son from his father" in clear violation of the court order in Vilas County.
"I can't think of any other reasonable explanation as to why she would be taking down the signs other than she knows where he is. She knows he's safe and she (has been) helping him hide out for the last two weeks," Michlig said.
Because Smith has "demonstrated that she will not follow the orders of the court" a significant cash bond is necessary, Michlig argued.
"We have a 15-year-old child where we don't know where he's at or if he's in danger," the prosecutor added.
In addition, as a condition of bond, he asked that Smith cooperate with the guardian ad litem in locating the boy. A guardian ad litem is an attorney appointed to represent the best interests of a child in a court proceeding.
Smith said a "significant cash bond" would mean she would have to remain in jail. She also denied that taking the signs down was a sign that she knows where her son is hiding.
"I understand that there are other things that have happened in this case that have led to my son being missing, but to assume that I am hiding him or involved in his being missing because of the posters that have been pasted all over town (is wrong). I work at the high school and this is a very personal matter. It's not something I want publicized," Smith said. "For the father to do that without even talking to me about it, it creates a lot of disturbance for me, for my son, and the family. So I don't feel that I should be accused of hiding my son. I don't know where he is. I have been cooperative with the police when they come over. When they call, I return their phone calls. I have communicated the best I can to try to locate my son."
"He is missing. He needs to be found, yes. That is something that is very important," she added.
Smith told Bloom that her son "does not feel safe where he's at" with his father. She also said that the situation is being manipulated to put her in the worst possible light.
"The court felt that he should be with his father. He's run away back in December four times," Smith said. "There have been arguments and there have been provoking on the father's part, who calculates these incidents so that I end up where I'm at. On Monday, when he knew that the child might possibly be with me, then he got the police involved. In terms of bail, I understand that I am in a tough situation. I am trying to protect my son. I'm trying to protect him, and his safety is of upmost concern. But at the same time, the courts don't allow me to protect my son."
Bloom said while he appreciates that Smith wants to be a good mother, her son cannot dictate terms in the matter.
"This is not a case where the tail can wag the dog," he said.
Bloom set a $1,000 cash bond with the condition that Michlig requested, and set the matter over to Friday. According to court records, Smith posted bond Thursday.
She appeared before Bloom on Friday with attorney Timothy Drewa, who waived further reading of the complaint and entered a not guilty plea on her behalf. He then argued that the cash bond be modified to a signature bond because Smith has lost her employment at Lakeland Union High School, "most likely due to this case."
Citing Smith's history of not following Nielsen's directives in the divorce case, Oneida County District Attorney Mike Schiek objected to any reduction in bond. Bloom agreed. He said believes Nielsen's decision to hold Smith in contempt of his family court ruling must have been preceded by "significant events." He also said he wants to see "more of a track record" of compliance in this case.
Drewa said Smith has been cooperating with authorities, but as of noon Friday, the child has not been located.
Bloom set the matter for a pretrial conference on June 30.
After the hearing, Schiek said Smith's actions do not warrant a charge of interfering with child custody and he does not anticipate additional charges at this time. Vilas County Sheriff Joe Fath has previously stated this matter does not warrant an Amber Alert because that system is not to be used to find runaways or in family abduction cases unless the child's life is in danger. Fath has also said friends of the boy have been in contact with him.
Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Reed Smolinski is asked to call the sheriff's office at (715) 479-4441 or the Minocqua Police Department at (715) 356-3234.
Jamie Taylor may be reached at [email protected].
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