US parents charged with kidnapping their daughter before her wedding

Parents accused of kidnapping their daughter before her wedding pleaded guilty and were sentenced to 3 years of probation.

Julia Redd, 57, and husband Lemuel Redd, 60, pleaded guilty to custodial interference, a misdemeanor, capping the legal end of a family spat over their daughter Julianna's choice for a husband.

A judge sentenced the parents to three years of probation and ordered them to pay $2,000 (Ђ1,356), the cost of a meal that was missed on the eve of the original wedding date.

The parents were accused of kidnapping their 20-year-old daughter on the eve of her wedding. A brief trip to buy religious garments in August 2006 for the ceremony in a Mormon temple turned into a long drive to Grand Junction, Colorado, and a night in a motel.

Their daughter has said her parents berated her on the drive, accusing her of breaking the Old Testament's Fourth Commandment, which says to honor parents. She said they called her fiance "evil and wicked."

Julianna and Perry Myers were married Aug. 8, 2006, three days later than planned and without the Redds in attendance.

A court order has prevented the Redds from speaking to their daughter or son-in-law for more than a year. The young couple had a daughter last spring.

"We feel sorry for the whole situation that we don't understand," Julia Redd told the AP late Tuesday. "We had concerns about (the groom), and she was only 20 years old. We're not against marriage. We just believe people need to be wise."

The groom was also in his early 20s.

The parents' lawyers argued in court papers that Perry Myers coached his bride to tell police it was a kidnapping, and that he even suggested at the outset of her disappearance that she may have been a victim of a murder-suicide.

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Author`s name Angela Antonova
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