Daniels' Story
Daniel Schneider grew up in Rocky Ridge, Maryland, attended UMBC, and resided for most of his life in the greater Baltimore area. He is a proud father to his son Dorian, a loving son, a wonderful brother and supportive and caring friend. He is a software engineer. He is a member of Ground Control and a competitor in the MMA community. He’s a man unafraid to fight for his family.
His son, Dorian, was taken without his consent from the United States to Russia in the Spring of 2022. Daniel fought to regain custody of his son and reconnect with him in Russia. He was arrested on 2023-07-29 and convicted on 2024-09-23 of committing a crime under paragraph "d" of Part 2 of Article 126 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, on the basis of which he is sentenced to imprisonment for a term of six years.
We believe Daniel is wrongfully detained and wish for his immediate transfer to the United States and are in the process of appealing Daniels status to higher Russian courts, and petitioning the State Department for wrongfully detained status.
We wish for Daniel's safety and well-being and to be protected as an American citizen.
A father fighting for his son is not a crime.
We appreciate any and all support.
Daniel's History
Daniel and Lana met in 2016 while working at a hotel in Columbia Maryland. They began a romantic relationship and in 2018 Lana learned she was pregnant. Dorian was born on March 13, 2019. When Dorian was born, they moved into Daniel’s parents house so they could save money while Daniel attended a coding boot camp so he could get a better job to provide for his son. Daniel’s parents, Mary and Jack Schneider, formed a deep bond with their Grandson as he grew up on the farm. He loved riding the tractors with Gpa, picking fruit and feeding the horses with his Giga. Daniel was a committed father and wanted the best for his son. He tried to convince Lana to agree to him as the legal father but she refused.
Daniel continued to progress in his career as software engineer to create a stable and happy life for his family. They eventually moved to Pikesville in 2021 and continued to live together and raise Dorian. Daniel continued to push to be Dorian’s legal father, and in July 2021, officially filed for legal paternity. While Lana admitted in these proceedings that Daniel is the biological father, she fought against him having legal custody of Dorian.
The fight for paternity continued into 2022, with Lana retaining counsel and fighting against Daniel becoming the legal father. Daniel and Lana were not in a happy relationship at this time, though they were both committed to being Dorian’s parents and completely invested in his happiness and well-being.
In May of 2022, Daniel asked Lana to leave the house that they were staying in together, as they were having difficulties in their relationship. He filed for emergency custody of Dorian on 2022-05-18 and the court granted a hearing for 2022-06-08.
On 2022-05-25, without any consent, and active paternity and custody cases, Lana bought plane tickets to Kaliningrad, Russia for herself and Dorian and they left the country without informing Daniel or any US courts. This was absolutely heartbreaking for Daniel, and for his family, who all have deep bonds with Dorian and have been in his life since his birth. Daniel was committed to spending his life as Dorian’s father and he felt as though he was let down by the legal system in every possible way, as his child, a US citizen, who he loved and raised since birth, was stolen away from him, to a country in an active war, that was extremely inaccessible to him as an American citizen.
Daniel continued to fight to be in Dorian’s life. He continued the custody case in the U.S. and also hired Russian lawyers and established custody cases in Russia. He visited Kaliningrad, Russia 2 times to try and reestablish himself in Dorian's life. He did this at great personal cost, selling his house in order to pay for lawyers. His family continued to support him as much as they could as they also worried for Dorain’s safety and missed him, dearly.
Lana continued to fight against Daniel’s attempts for custody. The US courts ruled a custody order for Daniel, and she was held in contempt of this order as she refused the basic tenants of the ruling including weekly phone calls and visits to the U.S.
On 2023-07-29 Daniel was on a visit to Kaliningrad, Russia to visit his son. During that time he attempted, without the consent of Lana, to cross the border with Dorian into Poland. Daniel was acting from extreme desperation to be with his son, and a complete lack of faith in the legal system to both prevent Dorian leaving the country and being unwilling to enforce the custody he was granted. While in the border zone, Daniel decided to give up the crossing, and contacted Russian authorities notifying them of his location, saying he only wanted Dorian to be safe.
Since this time, his family has contracted lawyers in Russia to defend Daniel. He was found guilty and sentenced to six years in a Russian prison after spending 14 months in a pre-trial detention center in Kaliningrad. We have appealed to multiple courts, and are confident according to the Russian Federation code of law, that Daniel should not be found guilty due to the fact that he did not proceed with taking Daniel across the border into Poland and that he is the legal Father and custodian of Dorian.
As family and connections to Daniel and Dorian, all we want is the safety and well-being of Daniel and Dorian. We don’t wish for a child to be torn away from any loving parent that wishes to be in their life. We know the U.S. and international legal system let Daniel and Dorian, one of its citizens, down in a profound way and it is inexcusable. Daniel is a caring father, and a good person, who was acting from a place of love and desperation to be with his son. We know that the sentencing of Daniel was unjust and in multiple appeals contradicts the Russian Federation Code of Law.
We love Daniel, and wish for him to be transferred to the U.S. where he can continue to lead a full and happy life. We love Dorian, are desparate to see him again and have him part of our lives.
How Does a Child Get Taken?
Throughout the last three years I keep wondering how this happens to someone. I am also a father who cares deeply about his children, and could not stand for them to be taken from me. We live in the greatest country in the world and with it I had assertions; beliefs in our country and the systems it upholds:
The American Government is protecting its children from being taken to foreign countries without a parent's consent.
The Justice System has a way to bring those children back.
Countries have conventions for upholding and enforcing this.
I've learned the fallacies in these beliefs. I've learned that something being both legally and ethically wrong doesn't mean your country will stand up and make it right. I've learned that "it's complicated". It's deeply disturbing to me that this happened to my nephew. I understand how powerless my brother felt after years of trying to get his son back the "right way".
A child that was born in the United States to an American father should not be allowed to leave without consent. Custody rulings should be upheld and enforced. We should not be losing children.
"Under federal law, prosecutors may investigate and prosecute the parent who kidnapped the child, however, prosecutors generally have no control over the custodial decisions affecting the child or whether foreign authorities will order the return of the child."
https://www.justice.gov/criminal/criminal-ceos/international-parental-kidnapping
"Until Russia and the United States establish a treaty relationship per Article 38 of the Convention, parents whose children have been abducted from the United States to Russia or wrongfully retained in Russia are unable to invoke the Convention to pursue their children’s return or to seek access to them."
https://ru.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/international-parental-child-abduction/
-- Ben Schneider