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Studabaker Says He Won't Fight Extradition to Britain
Aired July 17, 2003 - 15:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, former U.S. Marine who ran off with a 12-year-old British girl says he didn't know that they were being sought until he read about it later in the paper. Toby Studabaker told a German court he won't fight extradition to Britain.
CNN's Stephanie Halasz is on the phone from Frankfurt. It's the site of today's court hearing. Stephanie, what's the latest?
STEPHANIE HALASZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, again, Kyra.
Well, as you said, Toby Studabaker appeared in front of an investigative magistrate for about 10 minutes today and told the judge he had never had sexual relations with Shevaun Pennington, the 12-year-old Manchester girl that he had had an intensive e-mail relationship with for the last year.
Studabaker said last week, he flew to England from Michigan. He met up with Shevaun for the first time in person and flew with her to Paris. From there they went on to Strasburg (ph), a French town on the French-German border. There, Studabaker read in a newspaper that he was being looked for as well as Shevaun and that Shevaun was, indeed, only 12-years-old. Studabaker then contacted the FBI in the United States to ask them for their advice. And the FBI advised him to go to Frankfurt here and hand himself over to authorities.
So Studabaker took the girl, he went with her to Studgart (ph), another German town. He apparently put her on a plane back to Manchester. And on the same, day, yesterday, he went to Frankfurt, where he handed himself over to the authorities in the early afternoon -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Now, Stephanie, has the question been asked -- why, as soon as he came face-to-face with this young girl -- obviously she looked very young -- why didn't he contact her parents or authorities at that time?
HALASZ: Well, we asked the press officer of the court that today, and he said -- the press officer said that Studabaker had maintained that he never suspected her to be younger than 18. That's the age that the press officer cited today that Studabaker thought she was. He never thought she was younger than 18. There was never a question, and the first time that really came up was a couple of days ago in Strasburg when he read a newspaper and realized that she was only 12-years-old, and that is when he contacted the FBI -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Stephanie Halasz, following the case there in Germany, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 17, 2003 - 15:33 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, former U.S. Marine who ran off with a 12-year-old British girl says he didn't know that they were being sought until he read about it later in the paper. Toby Studabaker told a German court he won't fight extradition to Britain.
CNN's Stephanie Halasz is on the phone from Frankfurt. It's the site of today's court hearing. Stephanie, what's the latest?
STEPHANIE HALASZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, again, Kyra.
Well, as you said, Toby Studabaker appeared in front of an investigative magistrate for about 10 minutes today and told the judge he had never had sexual relations with Shevaun Pennington, the 12-year-old Manchester girl that he had had an intensive e-mail relationship with for the last year.
Studabaker said last week, he flew to England from Michigan. He met up with Shevaun for the first time in person and flew with her to Paris. From there they went on to Strasburg (ph), a French town on the French-German border. There, Studabaker read in a newspaper that he was being looked for as well as Shevaun and that Shevaun was, indeed, only 12-years-old. Studabaker then contacted the FBI in the United States to ask them for their advice. And the FBI advised him to go to Frankfurt here and hand himself over to authorities.
So Studabaker took the girl, he went with her to Studgart (ph), another German town. He apparently put her on a plane back to Manchester. And on the same, day, yesterday, he went to Frankfurt, where he handed himself over to the authorities in the early afternoon -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Now, Stephanie, has the question been asked -- why, as soon as he came face-to-face with this young girl -- obviously she looked very young -- why didn't he contact her parents or authorities at that time?
HALASZ: Well, we asked the press officer of the court that today, and he said -- the press officer said that Studabaker had maintained that he never suspected her to be younger than 18. That's the age that the press officer cited today that Studabaker thought she was. He never thought she was younger than 18. There was never a question, and the first time that really came up was a couple of days ago in Strasburg when he read a newspaper and realized that she was only 12-years-old, and that is when he contacted the FBI -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Stephanie Halasz, following the case there in Germany, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
