Qwesha Eugenia Coutou {BSO}
A Coral Springs woman was arrested after investigators said she refused to return a custody-shared child to the United States, citing the Trump administration as a reason for fleeing to Trinidad and Tobago.
Court documents show the arrest warrant for Qwesha Eugenia Coutou, 44, was signed by a judge on October 22 following a prolonged investigation by the Coral Springs Police Department into events that allegedly broke a child custody agreement between Coutou and the child’s father.
According to the arrest affidavit, Coutou was subject to a court-ordered parenting plan that required advance notice and consent for out-of-state or international travel involving the child. The father told authorities the first sign the custody deal had been broken was during the summer, when, during a FaceTime call, he recognized the background to be a location in Trinidad and Tobago, where the child’s grandparent lives.
According to the arrest affidavit, authorities first began to suspect the child had been removed from the area after the child did not appear for the start of the school year in August. School officials confirmed the child was absent, prompting concern from the child’s father, who then contacted police to request a welfare check.
Officers with the Coral Springs Police Department responded to the child’s listed residence, a condominium in Coral Springs, to conduct the welfare check. According to investigators, officers were unable to make contact with anyone inside the unit and observed through a window that the apartment appeared vacant, with no signs of recent occupancy.
The affidavit states that this was the first confirmation for both the police and the child’s father that the mother and child had left the residence and were no longer in the area.
Investigators later learned, through additional record checks, that although the condominium remained titled in the mother’s name, it had been listed for sale earlier in the year.
According to court records, after investigators established communication, the mother acknowledged that she had relocated with the child outside the United States. The affidavit states she informed the child’s father that she had moved to Trinidad and Tobago, enrolled the child in school there, and intended to assume responsibility for the child’s education abroad
Coutou reportedly stated she would only consider returning to the United States at a later time “under a new United States administration.”
According to court records, the child’s father contacted the U.S. Department of State, which became involved in the case and provided guidance as part of an international custody recovery effort
Court records show the father formally filed for relief under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction through the U.S. Department of State under the International Child Abduction Remedies Act.
On January 30, Coutou was arrested by CSPD officers and transported to the Broward County Main Jail. She has since been released after posting a $5,000 bond.
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