Two young brothers, Will and Wesley Richman, have been safely located in Mexico after being allegedly kidnapped by their father, Dan Steven Richman. They were found about 1,300 miles away in San Felipe, Mexico, bringing an end to a desperate search, according to police.
Richman, who was struggling financially and had just resigned from his job, has since been taken into custody.
This week, the boys’ mother, who is engaged in a custody dispute with Richman, made an emotional plea for him to return the children to safety.
In a social media video, she urged, “Please take the boys to a safe place.”
The alarm was raised last Saturday when Richman failed to show up for a scheduled custody exchange. Tomic, their mother, mentioned that she received word moments before that Richman would not attend and had terminated his attorney.
Her attempts to reach him through calls and emails went unanswered, leading police to conduct a welfare check at his home in Saratoga Springs, where they found it completely vacant.
Tomic shared her fear: “When I found out about this, I knew something was wrong.” She added, “He left with almost everything he had with the clear intention of not returning with his children.”
Given Richman’s love for the outdoors and self-sufficient lifestyle, Tomic was particularly worried about the boys’ well-being.
Richman did eventually respond, claiming he was camping with the boys. However, authorities began tracking his phone and suspected he had crossed into Mexico.
Reports indicated that Richman’s erratic behavior in recent weeks raised concerns for the children’s safety, prompting an Amber Alert to be issued on Saturday.
According to the indictment, Richman was facing serious financial issues, having taken out loans against his home equity and being significantly underwater on his mortgage.
Remarkably, he sold his motorcycle and truck as collateral to a friend. His abrupt resignation from work on May 11 was reportedly due to the ongoing legal battle over custody.
Richman is now facing two counts of interfering with custody.
