Letter to the Editor | Mother’s Attorney on Jeffery Chao Child Abduction Charges

The disappearance of Alison Chao made headlines in the past week (Photos – Monterey Park PD, Ring.)

Excerpts from Statement by Annie Chao’s attorney, Gregory E. Almas.

By Gregory E. Almas

I am Annie Chao’s attorney in her divorce case, which was filed in April 2023.

The court’s growing concerns that Alison was living in a harmful, dangerous, and unhealthy environment, and that Mr. Chao was undermining Annie’s relationship with Alison, caused Mr. Chao to lose physical custody.

The court awarded Annie [Chao] with sole physical custody of Alison on July 16, 2024, and Mr. Chao was ordered to turn over custody of Alison to Annie at 9:00 a.m. on July 17, 2024.

Within hours of the court awarding Annie sole physical custody of Alison, Mr. Chao falsely reported Alison as “missing.”

The police contacted Annie and informed her that [her daughter] Alison was missing. Annie told police her concerns about Mr. Chao, but operated off the information that police gave her; which was that Alison was missing. Based on that information, Annie sought all avenues to help search for her missing daughter and reached out to Mr. Chao and his family to help in the search. Annie fully cooperated and was in constant contact with law enforcement authorities.

On Friday, July 26, 2024, Jeffery Chao was arrested for child abduction and falsifying a police report by the Monterey Park Police Department. His arraignment was (7/30/2024) and we learned that the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office decided to file criminal felony and misdemeanor charges against Mr. Chao.

We want to again extend our thanks to the Monterey Park Police Department and Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for their thorough investigation and complete examination of the facts of this case. We also want to thank the many individuals who have given their time to help Alison and to search for her. It is appreciated more than you may ever know.

Excerpts from Attorney Gregory Almos letter to ColoradoBoulevard.net.

O O O

Below is the statement in its entirety:

Pasadena, CA – July 30, 2024 – I am Annie Chao’s attorney in her divorce case, which was filed in April 2023.

On Friday, July 26, 2024, Jeffery Chao was arrested for child abduction and falsifying a police report by the Monterey Park Police Department. His arraignment was today, and we learned that the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office decided to file criminal felony and misdemeanor charges against Mr. Chao.

Mr. Chao’s extreme, criminal behavior is not an aberration. He repeatedly told my client during their marriage he would kill himself or murder her family if she ever left him. After Mr. Chao falsely reported Alison “missing,” Annie feared the worst. The police contacted Annie and informed her that Alison was missing. Annie told police her concerns about Mr. Chao, but operated off the information that police gave her; which was that Alison was missing. Based on that information, Annie sought all avenues to help search for her missing daughter and reached out to Mr. Chao and his family to help in the search. Annie fully cooperated and was in constant contact with law enforcement authorities.

My client separated and filed for divorce from Mr. Chao because she wanted to escape an abusive and toxic environment. She was concerned based upon his threats that Mr. Chao would do something extreme, but she felt that Alison would be safe, given that Mr. Chao’s mother lived with them. She tried to approach the custody issues with Mr. Chao in a very amicable way by proposing to share custody of Alison.

Mr. Chao however, was intent upon reconciling with Annie. For approximately one month after Annie left the family residence, Mr. Chao (along with Alison) repeatedly requested that Annie return home while denying her the opportunity to spend any time with Alison. It was only after he was served with the divorce petition on April 9, 2023, and it became clear to Mr. Chao that Annie was not interested in reconciliation, that Mr. Chao retaliated with false abuse allegations against Annie and her father.

Even Mr. Chao’s own mother contradicted his false abuse allegations. She testified under oath that she never saw or heard any verbal, physical or any other type of abuse by Annie towards Alison or Mr. Chao and that her relationship with Alison was “normal” – especially notable given that she lived with the family for over 13 years. Furthermore, Mr. Chao took Alison to the doctor’s office on April 24, 2023, where Alison made the abuse allegations – 19 days after Annie had informed the court of her concern that Alison had not seen the doctor for years

All of the abuse allegations made by Mr. Chao and Alison against Annie and her father were determined to be not credible – both by the Los Angeles County Superior Court after a 15-day trial and by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office who declined to file any charges against Annie or her father. Both Annie and her father voluntarily testified and subjected themselves to cross-examination during the 15-day trial where the court determined the allegations against them were not credible. Annie and her father never abused Alison. Period.

This case is about parental alienation. Parental alienation is the process by which one parent sabotages and even severs the relationship between the child and the other parent. Severe alienation is when a child totally rejects contact with the targeted parent which sometimes leads – as it did in this case, to false abuse allegations.

Mr. Chao used the false abuse allegations to deny Alison from having any contact with her mother for more than one year while court proceedings played out. The judge in the divorce proceeding has repeatedly expressed her concerns that Mr. Chao alienated Alison from her mother and that Alison has been living in an unhealthy environment with her father, isolated from her school, her therapist, and normal interactions with her peers.

While uninformed third parties have claimed that Alison has been “robbed” of her voice “by the system,” Alison has been represented by legal counsel, has testified at court, and addressed the judge directly regarding her feelings. There is no dispute that Alison is a very smart girl. She is extremely talented, and her mother loves her unconditionally. The court, however, along with others involved in this case, recognizes that her perception of her mother has been unduly influenced by her father.

It is appropriate to add that the minor’s counsel – appointed by the Los Angeles County Superior Court – after consulting with Alison’s medical providers, including her regular therapist, felt strongly that it was in the best interest of Alison’s mental health and future wellness to receive residential treatment. Annie, as the parent with sole custody, attempted to follow the recommendation to bring her to a highly regarded program.

The mental health treatment program that Alison was to enroll in provides individual, group, and family counseling. They also provide activities that develop healthy hobbies, and promote wellness, and teamwork, such as yoga, kayaking, martial arts, and music lab. They also help to develop transitional planning for kids to integrate back into school, which was important to Annie because Alison has attended school remotely for more than four years. Annie tried to work with Mr. Chao to have insurance cover the costs, which he thwarted by not actively facilitating Alison’s assessment with the program’s intake team.

The court’s growing concerns that Alison was living in a harmful, dangerous, and unhealthy environment, and that Mr. Chao was undermining Annie’s relationship with Alison, caused Mr. Chao to lose physical custody. The court awarded Annie with sole physical custody of Alison on July 16, 2024 and Mr. Chao was ordered to turn over custody of Alison to Annie at 9:00 a.m. on July 17, 2024. Within hours of the court awarding Annie sole physical custody of Alison, Mr. Chao then falsely reported Alison as “missing.”

Mr. Chao did not cooperate in the investigation to locate Alison. When Annie requested Mr. Chao’s consent to have a non-profit organization specializing in searching for missing children assist with the search, Mr. Chao refused the non-profit’s assistance. My client sought information directly from Mr. Chao regarding how Alison went “missing.” Mr. Chao refused to answer Annie’s many simple questions. Annie’s only objective was to find Alison.

Now, thanks to the diligence of the Monterey Park police department, we know that Alison was never missing, but instead, abducted by her father, who:

Misled the public during his press conference about his knowledge of Alison’s whereabouts during the time period he reported her as “missing.”

Allowed literally thousands of concerned community members and volunteers from all over the Southland to search for days on end for Alison, even though he knew her whereabouts all along.

Permitted the Monterey Park Police Department to expend their limited resources over nearly a week on a search that was never needed.

Forced Annie and her family into every family’s nightmare by lying to them and the public about Alison’s whereabouts, knowing full well the entire time that she was not missing, and that she was safe.

Allowed a GoFundMe fundraiser to be mounted on his behalf that has raised more than $127,000 via 2,800 donations, even after his arrest.

Publicly released private videos, including of Alison at her most vulnerable moments, to create a smear campaign against Annie and her family and enable a rampaging social media mob.

While Alison was “missing,” Mr. Chao hired a criminal defense attorney, scheduled a news conference where he continued to mislead the public, and then started a campaign for financial donations.

Mr. Chao is not a “hero” as some on social media have described him for concealing his daughter from Annie; instead, his abduction and concealment of Alison was a continuation of his efforts to sabotage her relationship with her mother and to prevent her from receiving necessary medical treatment.

Despite public assertions to the contrary, Mr. Chao is not in financial need. The court already determined that he has superior financial resources to Annie. Since the divorce case began, he has had multiple attorneys throughout the court proceedings who have worked to protect his interests. I submit based on everything we now know regarding Mr. Chao’s malfeasance that it isn’t that he does not have the money to pay for more attorneys, but that he would selfishly prefer to use the public’s money to pay for his attorneys.

Tragically, Mr. Chao’s intentional campaign of misinformation to denigrate my client, her family, and many innocent others in the community, has wrought a series of disgusting consequences. These include death threats, racist attacks, and even severe damage to small businesses whose owners were mistakenly identified as connected to Annie’s family and have been subjected to false and defamatory online reviews as a result.

Lastly, we want to again extend our thanks to the Monterey Park Police Department and Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for their thorough investigation and complete examination of the facts of this case. We also want to thank the many individuals who have given their time to help Alison and to search for her. It is appreciated more than you may ever know.

The Opinion section reflects the opinions of the responsible contributor(s)/writer(s) only, and do not reflect the viewpoint of ColoradoBoulevard.net. ColoradoBoulevard.net does not endorse or guarantee the accuracy of any posting. ColoradoBoulevard.net accepts no obligation to review every posting, but reserves the right (with no obligation) to delete comments and postings that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate.