A Greece man who allegedly kidnapped his mother and two siblings over the weekend had his bail set Monday at $75,000.
Omar Saleh is accused of taking the family members from a house in Perinton where the three were allegedly staying as part of a “safety plan” involving local and federal authorities.
District Attorney Brian Green said he thought Saleh – who went to the house Saturday with another brother and two others -- intended on taking the children back to Yemen, where the family emigrated from decades ago and where his father still lives.
The case gained widespread interest after authorities issued an AMBER alert on Saturday night. And conflicting accounts of what transpired began proliferating on social media, punctuated by an emotional video of a sobbing child jumping into the arms of the brother.
Saleh, 30, faces three counts of kidnapping in the second degree. He was remanded into custody Monday after a court appearance before Rochester City Court Judge Michael Lopez. Two alleged accomplices also appeared on Monday. Dajour Paul of Brooklyn was charged with three counts of criminal contempt and was remanded with $15,000 bail, while Gamil Ahmed was charged with three counts of kidnapping and was released with electronic monitoring.
Saleh and his family own a series of convenience stores in Rochester. Paul worked part-time at one of the stores.
All were required to surrender their passports if released before trial. In court, District Attorney Green noted the family has access to an “immeasurable” amount of wealth.
Saleh’s brother, Amar Saleh, 26, was arrested early Monday morning in New York City.
Just what exactly occurred Saturday is not entirely clear.
Just after 3 p.m., a call to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office reported the children, 9 and 7, and their mother, Mouna Omar Saleh Ali, 54, had been taken by a family member with the intent to leave the area. The caller – who has not been identified -- also suggested they might be in physical danger, which triggered an AMBER Alert.
The trio was found about an hour at a house on Mt. Read Boulevard about an hour after the alert was issued.
Law enforcement at the local, state, and federal level assisted, including the FBI’s counterterrorism taskforce, according to Green. Green said Saleh had the “intention of hiding them from other family members, Child Protective Services, and the United States Department of State.”
Child Protective Services had some unspecified prior involvement with the mother and children but that did not involve separation, Green said. However, the U.S. Department of State alongside CPS had developed a “safety plan” for the family, which required that she and the children stay at the house in Perinton.
Saleh did not have legal guardianship of the children. His attorney, David Stern, painted a very different picture of the incident.
Widely circulated social media video of the incident show the moment the men arrive to pick up the children, including the youngest son running up to Saleh barefoot, jumping into his arms and hugging him, sobbing.
Stern said the boy had contacted Saleh through a PlayStation 5 chat. In that call, the boy can be heard asking Saleh to bring the police. In court on Monday, Stern repeatedly described Saleh as “rescuing” the children. He walked back that assertion after being asked how they were being rescued.
“Maybe rescue is too strong of a term, but clearly, they didn’t want to be where they were when they received that audio on the PlayStation 5,” Stern said.
Stern also claimed that the mother and two children had their phones taken away but did not know by who. Nor did he know if anyone else was staying at the house, which he described as an AirBnB, at the time of the alleged kidnapping.
“My understanding is that they were at a place they did not want to be and did not feel comfortable being at,” Stern said. “And they called their brother, who is like a father to them, and said, ‘Please, pick us up.’”
Saleh’s next court appearance is a preliminary hearing slated for May 15 in Perinton Town Court.
