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'Gypsies' who raised girl want her back
PHOENIX, Members of a family who cared for a 7-year-old old girl in Phoenix since her kidnapping in Los Angeles six years ago said they want to resume raising the child.
Speaking through an attorney, the self-proclaimed "gypsy" travelers of Romanian descent told The Arizona Republic they hope to clear their name so they can regain custody of Amber Nicklas.
After Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department investigators tracked the girl, she was taken from the family, which had raised her at a house that doubles as a psychic palm-reader's office. Amber had never been to school and never learned to read in the house, where investigators said they found clean living conditions.
The family said they had accepted Amber from her biological grandmother and raised her as Sandra, the name they said the grandmother told them when she turned the child over. Amber was placed in California state foster care in 2003, the family said, because of her biological mother's drug addiction.
John Blischak, the family's attorney, said they did not know Amber had been kidnapped.
"They were told something different by (Amber's) grandmother," said Blischak, who represents gypsy families in Arizona and elsewhere in the western United States.
No arrests have been made but authorities said criminal charges could be filed against anyone who played a role in the child's disappearance.
Bill John, who acted as the girl's grandfather in Phoenix, said he knew her as Sandra until police came to the Phoenix house this week with a court order allowing officers to take a footprint from the girl, later matched to the child's birth certificate.
Los Angeles authorities told the Republic Amber's three biological aunts -- one as young as 13 at the time -- helped take their baby niece from foster parents during a supervised visit at a Chuck E. Cheese in Norwalk, Calif., before the toddler disappeared. Two of the aunts served time after being convicted as juveniles.
PHOENIX, Members of a family who cared for a 7-year-old old girl in Phoenix since her kidnapping in Los Angeles six years ago said they want to resume raising the child.
Speaking through an attorney, the self-proclaimed "gypsy" travelers of Romanian descent told The Arizona Republic they hope to clear their name so they can regain custody of Amber Nicklas.
After Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department investigators tracked the girl, she was taken from the family, which had raised her at a house that doubles as a psychic palm-reader's office. Amber had never been to school and never learned to read in the house, where investigators said they found clean living conditions.
The family said they had accepted Amber from her biological grandmother and raised her as Sandra, the name they said the grandmother told them when she turned the child over. Amber was placed in California state foster care in 2003, the family said, because of her biological mother's drug addiction.
John Blischak, the family's attorney, said they did not know Amber had been kidnapped.
"They were told something different by (Amber's) grandmother," said Blischak, who represents gypsy families in Arizona and elsewhere in the western United States.
No arrests have been made but authorities said criminal charges could be filed against anyone who played a role in the child's disappearance.
Bill John, who acted as the girl's grandfather in Phoenix, said he knew her as Sandra until police came to the Phoenix house this week with a court order allowing officers to take a footprint from the girl, later matched to the child's birth certificate.
Los Angeles authorities told the Republic Amber's three biological aunts -- one as young as 13 at the time -- helped take their baby niece from foster parents during a supervised visit at a Chuck E. Cheese in Norwalk, Calif., before the toddler disappeared. Two of the aunts served time after being convicted as juveniles.