Part 3 of 5 · Making the most of their victims’ misfortune

The taking

An order with the findings blank, a warrant marked “Proposed,” and a clinic visit the day before the paper allowed it.

I left California with my son under a court order that permitted it. On February 11, 2026, after a contested hearing, Mendocino County Superior Court (No. 25FL01030) filed Findings and Order After Hearing giving me sole physical custody of J.J. and permission to live in Florida. It has never been vacated or modified by any order made on notice and hearing. It was registered in the Circuit Court for Lee County, Florida (No. 26-DR-006457) on September 22, 2026; the window to contest the registration closed October 16, 2026 with no contest. It is the only custody order made after notice and a hearing in either state. Then this, in order.

August 12, 2026 — the paper he was taken under

Without notice to me — the court’s own register reads “NOTICE NOT GIVEN” — the same Mendocino court issued a temporary order. It states on its face that it expires “on the date and time of the hearing in (1) [September 2, 2026, 9:30 AM], unless extended by court order.” The application’s domestic-violence and firearm boxes were left blank. Vincent Hyler swore he had surrendered “the firearm referenced in the 2025 directive” and attached the receipt that shows he had not (The gun).

August 19, 2026 — the warrant

Lee County deputies removed J.J. from my home on a Florida warrant whose every page still carries the footer “Proposed Emergency Ex Parte Order and Child-Pickup Warrant.” It was executed at an address the same Florida court had sealed on my own domestic-violence petition against the man they released him to. His occupational therapy and Early Steps sessions, three a week, stopped that day.

August 21 to 27, 2026 — the clock

August 21: Vincent Hyler’s Florida lawyer files a proposed order asking that he be “AUTHORIZED to leave Florida and travel to California with the Child.” August 22: my written demand to his lawyer — where is J.J.? — never answered. August 26, 1:00 p.m.: Vincent Hyler’s own exhibit places J.J. at a Ukiah clinic. August 27, 1:11 p.m. Eastern: the Florida order “authorizing” travel to California is signed — the next day. The child was in California before any order allowed it. August 26–28: his Mendocino lawyer files a Notice of Remote Appearance and obtains an order permitting the Lee County deputy who took J.J. to appear by video as Vincent Hyler’s witness.

September 2, 2026 — the order’s own end

The hearing the August 12 order named as its own expiration: continued. The clerk’s minutes record no extension. My application to be told where my son was: denied. On September 10, the same court’s order called the February 11 order “the standing orders for the parties to follow.” On September 15, Vincent Hyler’s lawyer stated in court that the orders were “extended” to a later date — no motion before the court, over my objection, no written order. What was done about that on October 15 is Part 5.

“It’s like saying it’s legal to abduct a child as long as you do it with a lawyer.” — Carli Heller

The documents for this part

• The February 11, 2026 Findings and Order After Hearing, and the Lee County registration (No. 26-DR-006457)
• The August 12, 2026 temporary order (FL-305) with its expiry line, and the register entry “NOTICE NOT GIVEN”
• The August 19, 2026 Lee County warrant — “Proposed” on every page
• The clinic record, August 26, 1:00 p.m. (Exhibit B to his August 28 declaration), and the August 27, 1:11 p.m. travel order
• The clerk’s minutes of September 2, 2026 — no extension recorded

Every statement about a court proceeding on this page is drawn from a filed court record, cited by case number. J.J. is referred to by his initials. No photograph of him appears on this site.