Maricella Miranda, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn. –
An 11-year-old boy told a judge it was the worst day of his life when the man who took care of him, Steven A. Cross, abandoned him almost a year ago in the family’s home in Lakeville.
“When my dad left, it felt like my life was over,” the boy wrote in a victim impact statement read before his father was sentenced Wednesday, May 16, in Dakota County District Court.
Cross, 60, was ordered to serve two years’ probation for gross misdemeanor child neglect. Judge Robert King also sentenced Cross to a year in jail, which will not be executed if Cross completes the probation requirements. Cross also received 32 days credit for time served in jail.
Cross was ordered to pay $2,520 in restitution for the county sending two deputies to extradite him back to Minnesota from California, where Cross drove after leaving his son July 18, 2011.
Cross cannot have contact with his son, Sebastian Cross, unless approved in a separate child-protection case. Cross also must cooperate with any therapy requirements and not use drugs and alcohol.
Before sentencing, Cross said he wants to apologize to his son for abandoning him. “I wish I could do it all over again, but I can’t,” said Cross, sobbing in court.
Cross briefly saw his son last month during a child welfare hearing but has yet to be reunited with the boy. Sebastian has told the court that he wants to stay in foster care with his maternal great-aunt.
But after Wednesday’s sentencing, Cross and the boy’s mother,
Katik Porter, appeared in a child-protection hearing. Judge Richard Spicer ordered that Sebastian will begin permanently living his mother, and the county’s social services would help decide when the boy will reunite with his father.
“Reunification is going to happen in this case,” said assistant Dakota County attorney Don Bruce during the hearing. “The law requires it and it’s appropriate.”
State and federal laws encourage courts to return children to their parents when possible and to find a permanent home for children within a year of their being displaced.
Before leaving Minnesota, Cross left behind letters to Sebastian, saying that they lost their home in a foreclosure, he couldn’t find work, and that the boy’s mother — who Cross had said was dead — was alive. Porter, 39, of Minneapolis, lost visitation rights with the boy in 2002.
Sebastian told the court Wednesday he thought he had no family.
“I wish my dad didn’t lie about my family,” Sebastian stated.
Spicer gave Porter and Cross joint custody of their son. But he ordered that Sebastian should have weekly visits with his 17-year-old half-brother on his mother’s side and his great-aunt.
Sebastian began living with his great-aunt about a month after Cross left. Sebastian first lived with neighbors who were a friend’s parents. Cross asked the couple in letters to care for the boy until late August. In the letter to Sebastian, Cross told his son to bike to the neighbors’ house.
Cross drove to Cambria, Calif., an artists’ colony on the Pacific coast, where he found a job at a deli and lived in his van. He was arrested Aug. 29, 2011, and extradited to Minnesota. He was released from custody on bail in late September. In January, a jury deliberated for 30 minutes before finding Cross guilty of child neglect.
Cross, an unemployed architect, has been living with neighbors across the street from the home he lost in foreclosure. Cross said he hopes to find a job now that his criminal case has ended.
“I’m happy now that I can work on a relationship with my son, and that I don’t have to spend more time in jail,” Cross said. “I realize how this has hurt him now. I wish I could go back and change it.”
