Calif. father accused in sailboat abduction of children says he was protecting them from abusive home
(CBS/AP) REDWOOD CITY - Christopher Maffei, the California father accused of kidnapping his children and attempting to escape on a stolen yacht, told a judge he was trying to protect his son and daughter from an abusive home.
According to the San Jose Mercury News, the 43-year-old Maffei did not enter a plea on Monday to charges of kidnapping, child endangerment and burglary.
"Judge, with all due respect, my children have been put right back in the place where they were being abused," Maffei told the judge, the Mercury News reports.
San Mateo Superior Court Commissioner Stephanie Garratt reportedly responded with skepticism, saying there was no reason to believe that was true.
Maffei is due back in San Mateo County Superior Court on Sept. 17.
Maffei is accused of forcibly taking his 3-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son from their grandmother while the children's mother was in court seeking a restraining order against him.
Police say Maffei took a sailboat from an Alameda marina and headed south along California's coast. Authorities say the Coast Guard, FBI and police caught up with him Friday near Monterey after a fisherman reported seeing him in the vessel. Maffei surrendered without incident.
He is being held in San Mateo County Jail on $200,000 bail.