An Orange County mother pleaded not guilty to charges of child abduction March 27 after she fled to Canada with her two young children earlier this year.
Tawny Grossman allegedly between January 09, 2024 and February 15, 2024, unlawfully took, withheld and concealed her two children and unlawfully deprived her ex-husband, Frank Grossman of his right to custody, according to prosecutors.
Grossman said she fled to Canada from Orange County in January with her two young children out of fear for their safety from her ex-husband.
“I felt I had no other choice than to leave to protect my kids from being sexually abused,” Grossman said.
The court ordered a no-contact order between Grossman and her two young children and, at a later hearing, ordered that she relinquish her passport out of concern that she might flee with the children again. She was also ordered to wear an ankle monitor to make sure she did not violate the no-contact order.
Orange County prosecutor Tammy Jacobs told the judge at an April 2 hearing that the children need to be protected and it only takes seconds to take the kids.
“She has done it before and I believe she’ll do it again,” Jacobs told the court.
Jacobs argued that the allegations that Grossman’s ex-husband sexually abused their children were unfounded which Grossman’s public defender pushed back on.
“It is not accurate to say they (sexual abuse allegations) were unfounded,” Gabriel Durkin-White said. “There are many reports from social workers and doctors where one of the children described abuse.”
In those reports is one from Sarah Escalante, an Orange County licensed clinical social worker.
Escalante has interviewed Tawny’s daughter several times from Oct. 2022 through March 2023, court documents show.
When Escalante interviewed Tawny’s young daughter, she told Escalante that her father makes her feel sad and mad and that she doesn't like her dad.
When questioned why, the daughter shared that she does not like her dad because he “doesn't listen to her” and that she “likes her mommy because her mommy does what she asks.”
In the report, Tawny’s daughter told Escalante "daddy touches my private parts without asking me and he keeps touching them and touching them and he touches both sides."
When prompted, Tawny’s daughter showed how her father touches her private parts using a doll; she demonstrated this by placing her finger on the doll between the doll's legs, court records reveal.
She then told Escalante that she tells her dad “I don't like it and I say stop but he doesn't stop."
Grossman appeared in court with a group of supporters while the prosecutor, Jacobs, was accompanied by several investigators from the district attorney’s office who sat with the ex-husband.
The ex-husband appeared in court and was making glaring looks towards Grossman throughout the first hearing.
Durkin-White also tried, unsuccessfully, to have the no-contact order removed.
“Not allowing visitation does not make anyone safer,” Durkin-White told the court.
Durkin-White also argued that the prosecution referenced a lot of paperwork as evidence that he does not have.
Grossman’s public defender objected several times to the prosecutor’s use of what he characterized as hearsay and not actual evidence, which at one point caused the judge to lash out at him.
“How long have you been a lawyer?”Judge Derek G. Johnson said to Durkin-White.
After a brief break, senior assistant public defender Darren Thompson sat in the courtroom and observed the rest of the proceedings.
Judge Johnson said that if the family court allows for visitation, he would consider removing the no-contact order.
“If the family court provides for supervised visitation, I am open to modify the criminal protective order if the family court makes that order,” Judge Johnson said.
In the meantime, Grossman is ordered to stay at least 500 yards from her children and is to remain in Orange County.
Grossman’s next court date is April 29.