Kay S. Croley
Javan P. Smith
Javan P. Smith is so convinced his 12-year-old son belongs in his custody, he offered a $2 million reward for anyone who would hand the child over to him in Wellsville or Texas.
However, a screaming incident at the RiverWalk Shopping Plaza and an alert police officer stopped a possible abduction. The child is safe today and the father is in jail.
At 5:53 p.m. Sunday, Wellsville Village Police charged Smith, 48 of Helotes, Texas, with second-degree criminal contempt.
He was arraigned before acting Wellsville Village Justice James Ames and sent to the Allegany County Jail in lieu of $5,000 bail.
Despite the offer of $2 million, jail deputies say he has not made bail as of this morning.
Wellsville Village Police Chief Timothy Walsh said the child had been in the custody of social services in North Carolina but was recently handed over to his mother in Wellsville.
Smith, working with Kay S. Croley of Wellsville, was able to get the child for a few minutes Sunday, police said.
Police charged Croley, 68, with second-degree custodial interference. She was arraigned and issued an appearance ticket.
“(Croley) told the mother she was taking the child to RiverWalk for breakfast and met up with Javan,” said Walsh. “At that point in time, the child became upset and was concerned that he was not going back to his mother’s house. That’s when Javan decided he would introduce the police into the situation.”
Walsh said Smith produced documents saying he has custody of the child.
An official with the Allegany County Department of Social Services said Smith did get a temporary custody paper from a court in San Antonio in 2008, but that document was short-lived. However, he produced many papers to Wellsville police.
“Obviously the officers who responded realized the papers were not legitimate,” said Walsh. “At that point in time, an officer rightfully took the child into his custody and moved the playing field to the Wellsville Police Department. He contacted me and I directed him to get ahold of child protective services and at that time (the officer) determined it was all bogus and the child was returned back to the mother.”
On Sept. 23, Smith contacted the Daily Reporter and e-mailed a flyer offering the $2 million reward for someone to give him his child, of whom he feels he rightfully has custody.
“I was living on Spring Street in Cuba with my son in 2003 and we went to Florida and Texas because a lot of bad things happened to (his son) and we needed to get out of there for his safety,” said Smith. “We were in San Antonio then we were in North Carolina and he was kidnapped by a Mexican who works for social services in North Carolina. I think Mexican gang members are infiltrating the social services departments.”
Smith then went on at length, sounding like an attorney describing his almost decade-long court battles to get his son back. He was featured on a television newscast in 2008 in a plea to get his son back. He says he is the vice president of the San Antonio autism society.
“I am the president of a company down here,” said Smith in September before he went to jail. “We have multimillion contracts with states like Delaware and military bases. (My son) is a part owner of this company. He is a millionaire and does not know it. If he appears anywhere in Wellsville, for $2 million, someone is going to talk, someone may hold him for the police.”
Walsh is not buying it.
“We’ve been monitoring the situation for some time. The mother has been in contact with us. This is not the first time we had a situation where people weave tales and produce documents that don’t make sense with Family Court. But once again, Mr. Smith is telling tales of having millions of dollars. And now it doesn’t appear he has these millions to get out of jail.
“He contacted (the newspaper), the state police at many different levels. He is throwing things up in the air to see if it sticks. The only thing that sticks is him being stuck in the Allegany County Jail,” Walsh added.
When Smith contacted the newspaper about doing a story about the $2 million reward, a reporter pressed him several times over the course of the interview where he would get the $2 million. First he said, “I’m quite wealthy, I’m retired from the Navy. I will hand someone $2 million to find him.” Then Smith said, “North Carolina (social services) interjected and lost. I will get the money back from North Carolina in fees as part of my lawsuit. The $2 million reward is simply a fee I incurred trying to get my son back and they will have to pay that to me.”
Smith last saw his son in August 2006, he said. When the son was taken from a home in North Carolina, he said, “Carter County sent Sampson County (social services) to check on him. He was with a nurse, an off-duty police officer and two registered nurses. He was OK.”
“I have private detectives out of Belgium, New York City … they have floated in and out of Wellsville keeping an eye on (Smith’s ex-wife) and there are some local people who have given us information,” Smith said.
Smith was asked several times where he was when social services took his son and he gave a few different answers, but each one indicated he was not at the home at the time.
“That’s a lot of money, $2 million may not be a lot in San Antonio, but it’s a lot in Wellsville. This $2 million reward was originally for private investigators. I know they won’t let a hair on his head get hurt for $2 million and that is how you look at it. I will eventually get my money back, if not, my kid is worth $2 million to me.”
Walsh said Smith is not to be believed.
“The bottom line is, the child was removed from his custody by authorities in North Carolina after severe accusations of actions by Javan Smith … 99 percent of what he is spewing is nonsense,” said Walsh. “Javan had assistance from Mrs. Crowley with the pretense she was taking him to breakfast. There is a current order of protection stating Javan is to have no contact with the mother or the child.
“So, when that happened, Javan put himself in jeopardy of being arrested. Kay, of course, has been arrested for custodial interference for her action.”
Walsh said there could be more arrests in this case as the investigation is still open.
Read, “Where is Joshua William Smith” on this blog
Swain County father, Michael Shannon, has filed a civil lawsuit alleging that the civil rights of him, his daughter, and his father have been violated by key personnel in local and state government.
The lawsuit filed August 15, 2011 in the Swain County North Carolina Superior Court, names Michael Shannon, his father, Scott Shannon and his Daughter, Sierra Shannon as the Plaintiff’s and names the following as some of the Defendant’s.
The lawsuit alleges, among other things, accounts of government corruption so all encompassing that I believe an SBI investigation into this matter is desperately warranted.
This corruption includes, but is not limited to:
“Smith then told the investigators that he was instructed to falsify the records by his supervisor after Aubrey died to show that he followed up with a call to the hospital.
He said he was later called to a meeting with his supervisor, Candice Lassiter, other agency officials and DSS Director Tammy Cagle.
They questioned him about his investigation at the Powell home. Cagle, according to the court papers, told Smith “we have to get everything in order and everything straight.”
The director, Tammy Cagle who is listed as a defendant is Shannon’s lawsuit, was fired for insubordination and conduct unbecoming of a state employee detrimental to state service, for her apparent involvement in the falsification of records in Aubrey’s case.
It is abundantly apparent that Swain County DSS has broken laws in the case of Aubrey Littlejohn and in an attempt to cover their asses they falsified records and lied. It is also abundantly apparent to me that these people were completely comfortable in their illegal behavior, so comfortable in fact, that they even held a meeting and discussed how to get “everything in order and everything straight”, or what I refer to as “a document forging party”.
The chances that the Aubrey Littlejohn case is the first and only case in which the Swain County DSS has exhibited this type of illegal and unethical behavior in, is in my opinion, slim to none. I believe, based on the Swain County DSS’s proven behavior, that the case of Michael, Scott and Sierra Shannon should be looked at by unbiased, appropriate law enforcement.
I have heard the 911 call placed by Scott Shannon when he was being assaulted by Shannon’s mother, I have read some of the court papers and I have talked with Scott Shannon…there is something really fishy occurring in their case, and I believe with the illegal practices that have been brought to light in Swain County, that the Attorney General and the SBI owe a duty to investigate not only the Shannon case, but any other case that has been handled by the Swain County DSS.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of the Swain County Department of Social Services Please contact me at lawdoll1@gmail.com
For more information about Sierra’s case, please visit Michael Shannon’s site at the link below.
Sierra Shannon, 4 years old
A Victim of Child Abuse by
The Swain County, North Carolina
Department of Social Services
in Bryson City, North Carolina
We desperately need your help to save Sierra from the bureaucrats and criminals in the department of Social Services in North Carolina. A civil case was filed in the Superior Court of Swain County North Carolina on August 15, 2011 on her behalf by her father, Michael Shannon and her grandfather, Scott Shannon. The details of the case are below, as well as a link to a copy of the Civil Complaint. If you read these items you will discover a horror story that is almost beyond belief. 28 people are being sued in this case, and all have some responsibility for the abuse that Sierra has suffered since August 5, 2010.
Please read these materials and then take action to do what you can to help save Sierra from continuing abuse by these criminals, uncaring bureaucrats, and others who have allowed her to be abused and illegally taken her from her loving father. I know there is a lot of material to go through, but unless you know the entire story and all of the facts, you can’t understand the full horror of what has been done to my family. If you consider yourself a caring person, please read all of it. The links in the text will open in a new browser window so that you can always conveniently return to this page.
