020808 Boy who fled with teacher to Mexico back in Lexington
ublished Friday | February 8, 2008
Fernando Rodriguez — the boy whose cross-country flight with a teacher ended in kidnapping and abuse charges against her — has returned from Mexico and is settling in with his family in Lexington.
Immigration officials last week granted Fernando, an illegal immigrant, special permission to come back to the United States for a year. Now 14, he had been in Mexico since early November, when authorities found him there with Kelsey Peterson.
Amy Peck, Fernando’s Omaha attorney, said the teen now would be able to obtain counseling and participate in the prosecution of Peterson, 25, his former sixth-grade teacher. A court hearing is later this month.
Whether Fernando will return to school in Lexington or study under different arrangements has yet to be decided, said Peck. She said he was taking time to readjust and be with his mother, brothers and stepfather.
— Cindy Gonzalez
