The Respondent
Episode 21: Juan Pablo Torres

Juan Pablo Torres is a father facing 20 yrs in prison for kidnapping his own daughter.

Last week he called my management company with a coherent yet passionate plea given his circumstances: “I need Greg Ellis and The Respondent to help me.”

A few days later I interviewed him on the show.

Cheltenham Police Lt. Andy Snyder had issued an amber alert after 7 year old Giselle Torres was allegedly kidnapped by her father.

Police helicopters, hostage negotiators, extradition proceedings, sensational news media stories. Armed men wearing body armor, multiple law enforcement agencies in two states; the manhunt for Juan Pablo Torres stretched from PA to NY.

Arrested, separated from his daughter, thrown into Rikers Island prison, vilified in the media, extradited from New York to Pennsylvania by zealous Montgomery County, PA district attorney Kevin Steele.

Steele asked that bail be set at $5 million, misrepresenting to the judge that Juan had a private jet so was a big flight risk – he’s actually an operations manager at a trucking country.

Juan was eventually released on $1,000,000 bail.

He now faces 20 years in prison for kidnapping his own daughter.

If our legal system can condemn a good man, a loving father like Juan Pablo Torres, to 20 years in prison, we should all be terrified.