Pedophile ring claim may lead to extradition
CHICAGO — A former Lithuanian lawmaker appeared close to fainting in a Chicago federal courtroom Thursday as a judge refused to halt her extradition to her homeland, where she faces charges stemming from her claims about the existence of a ring of influential pedophiles.
Lawyers for 47-yearold Neringa Venckiene said they would immediately appeal the decision to the 7th U.S. District Court of Appeals. That likely means Venckiene won’t be forced on a plane back to Lithuania for at least several weeks.
Venckiene was a central figure in a scandal that divided Lithuanians before she fled to Chicago in 2013 as prosecutors prepared charges. Also a former judge, Venckiene is viewed by some Lithuanians as a heroine for exposing a seedy criminal network, but others see her as a manipulator who fabricated the pedophilia claims.
As it became clear the ruling wasn’t going her way Thursday in U.S. District Court, Venckiene — standing in orange jail garb — appeared near to collapsing and had to be helped to a seat. When the judge asked if she wanted a break, Venckiene said: “No, no.” The judge recessed for five minutes anyway, as Venckiene drank water and dabbed her face with a tissue.
The charges she faces in Lithuania include reporting a false crime; disobeying an order to relinquish custody of her 4-year-old niece, whom she alleges was one of the pedophile ring’s victims; and hitting an officer as dozens of police pried the girl from her arms in a raid.
Judge Virginia Kendall spent nearly an hour reading her 35-page ruling aloud in a case she portrayed as novel and complex. She said her power to halt or even delay an extradition after the U.S. State Department has already signed off on it — as it has in Venckiene’s case — is limited.
Kendall accepted arguments by government attorneys that the U.S. is obliged to send Venckiene back to Lithuania in line with a bilateral extradition treaty.