Judge Lisa Gorcyca Didn’t Give Kids Juvenile Detention For Refusing Lunch With Dad, Omer Tsimhoni?

When Judge Lisa Gorcyca reportedly gave three kids juvenile detention for refusing lunch with their dad, many people were upset. The father, Omer Tsimhoni, and mother, Maya Eibschitz-Tsimhoni, are going through a messy divorce and one of the children claimed the dad is abusive. But Judge Gorcyca “says the children are not locked up in juvenile detention” as most media reports have claimed.

[Update] In an interview, the father explains his side of the story.

In a related story by the Inquisitr, early reports originally claimed that Judge Lisa Gorcyca gave the kids juvenile detention for refusing lunch with their dad was because of an argument with the eldest son. The children protested the judge’s ruling and tried to explain why he did not want to have lunch with dad.

“But I do not apologize for — for not talking to him because I have a reason for that and that’s because he’s violent and he — I saw him hit my mom and I’m not gonna talk to him,” the boy told the judge. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“No, you did,” the judge countered. “You — I ordered you to talk to your father. You chose not to talk to your father. You defied a direct court order. It’s direct contempt, so I am finding you guilty of civil contempt.”

According to Heavy, the children allegedly defied a direct court order to have a “healthy relationship” with their father, including having lunch with Omer Tsimhoni on June 24.

“I’ll tell you this, you two don’t have a nice lunch with your dad and make this up to your dad you’re going to come back here at 1:30 and I’m going to have the deputies take you to Children’s Village,” Judge Lisa Gorcyca said. “I’ve never seen anything like this. Your dad is a good man who loves you. You have been brainwashed. You are brainwashed. This is not normal behavior.”

Initially, Judge Lisa Gorcyca sent the three kids to to Mandy’s Place in Children’s Village, which is a facility for abused and neglected children. Some reports say the judge did not give the kids juvenile detention for refusing lunch with their dad, while others say she kept the children “in the county’s juvenile detention center” for the past several weeks. In any case, the children are now being sent to a Jewish summer camp called Camp Tamarack in West Bloomfield.

“The court agrees with the children’s guardian’s recommendation as to the best interests of the children,” Gorcyca said this afternoon. “The court finds that is in the children’s best interests to grant the father’s and the guardian ad litem’s motion to allow the children to attend summer camp. Children’s Village is to facilitate the transportation.”

The judge also defended her decision to hold the children at Children’s Village.

“While this court’s remedy in this particular situation may seem drastic and offensive, so too, is the notion… that the only way to maintain a stable and loving connection with the mother is to vilify and reject the father,” Gorcyca said, according to the Detroit Free Press.

Omer Tsimhoni also released a press release through his lawyer explaining his viewpoint. According to WXYZ, he claims Maya Eibschitz-Tsimhoni has been trying to alienate his children from him and says he wants a healthy relationship with his kids. The father says he has spent five “years combatting unsubstantiated and false claims made” by the mother, and he also says the media reports about the actions of Judge Lisa Gorcyca do not tell the whole story.

“The complete court record is not adequately represented by the one day in court that has been brought to the attention of various media outlets. Mr. Tsimhoni desires a resolution to the current circumstances that would allow his children to live in a healthy home and not the Children’s Village. Moreover, the children have experienced legal counsel, including a court appointed Guardian Ad Litem, William Lansat, who has represented their best interests for the past several years. In addition, Judge Gorcyca appointed each of the minor children individual attorneys on June 24, 2015, before placing the children in shelter care at Children’s Village with other neglected children. Those lawyers include Jeffrey Schwartz, Karen Cook and Michael Dean, none of whom objected to the children’s placement.”

Some reports claim the children were convinced that their father was violent based upon their mother telling them she was physically abused, not that they witnessed him hitting her.

What do you think about the actions of Judge Lisa Gorcyca based upon this information?

[Image via NBC]