A Mother Arranged Her Son’s Kidnapping. A Federal Court Responded.
A federal court has sentenced a California mother to three years in prison for arranging the abduction of her own teenage son and transporting him — in handcuffs, across state lines — to Agape Boarding School, a now-closed Christian reform program in Stockton, Missouri. The case is a study in how religious boarding schools can function as destinations for coercion, not just conviction.
The facts, as established by federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of California, are not complicated. Shana Gaviola, 39, of Fresno County, arranged for two individuals to remove her son — then 16 — from an ice-skating rink in Fresno in 2021. The boy had already obtained a temporary restraining order against his mother and had petitioned for emancipation. None of that stopped the abductors. They handcuffed the teenager, drove him for 27 hours to southwest Missouri, and delivered him to Agape. He was held there for approximately eight days before being released to his father.
Gaviola was convicted of interstate violation of a protection order. To execute the plan, she gave the transporters fabricated court documents purporting to authorize the transfer. She had also contacted Julio Sandoval — Agape’s former dean of students, who simultaneously operated a transportation company called Safe, Sound, Secure Youth Ministries — and paid his company to carry out the removal. Sandoval was charged but acquitted after a five-day trial. The lawsuit brought by the victim in 2023, however, remains pending in Cedar County.
That civil lawsuit supplies the details federal indictments often omit. According to the petition, Sandoval’s transporters arrived at the teen’s workplace armed with guns, tasers, and handcuffs. Once inside the vehicle, the boy was allowed to eat only a single order of french fries during the 27-hour drive. When he told the transporters about the protective order against his mother, they responded that he was a delinquent who would never see his friends again. At Agape, he was strip-searched, issued clothing reflecting a prison-style hierarchy, and subjected to physical and emotional abuse by staff.
“No parent — indeed, no person whatsoever — has the right to subject a child to kidnapping and terror for that reason or any other reason.”
— U.S. Attorney Eric Grant, Eastern District of California
Agape Boarding School closed in 2023 following sustained findings of abuse. Missouri authorities had substantiated multiple claims of physical abuse in the months before closure. A court order ultimately directed the school to shut down.
Jarrett Johnson, a Kansas City trial lawyer and partner at McGonagle Johnson, has represented numerous victims of sexual and physical abuse at Missouri religious boarding schools, including former Agape students. His assessment of the Agape case is direct:
“I have spent years representing survivors of these schools. The Agape case is not unusual — children are zip-tied, hauled across state lines, and handed to staff who answer to no one. What’s unusual here is that someone was held federally accountable. In Missouri state courts, the outcomes for offenders at these facilities have too often been an SIS, a reduced misdemeanor, or no charges filed at all. The children carry felony-level trauma. The adults who inflicted it frequently walk away with no criminal record.”
— Jarrett Johnson, McGonagle Johnson
Johnson served for many years as Chair of the Missouri Bar’s Criminal Law Committee — a vantage point that informs both how he evaluates institutional abuse cases and how he anticipates the limits of criminal prosecution. When the state system underperforms, the civil courts remain open. That is where accountability often has to be built.
The federal conviction of Gaviola, combined with the pending civil litigation against Sandoval, reflects that broader framework still working through the institutional failures Agape represents. For survivors, the two tracks are not mutually exclusive. In many cases, the civil record provides the most complete picture of what actually happened inside these facilities — and the most durable form of accountability for those who ran them.
If you or someone you know was harmed at Agape Boarding School or a similar institution, our firm represents survivors in Missouri and across the country. We work quietly, strategically, and with the interests of our clients — not headlines — as our guide.
Representing Survivors of Institutional Abuse
McGonagle Johnson has extensive experience in religious boarding school and institutional abuse cases in Missouri. Partner Jarrett Johnson has represented numerous survivors of sexual and physical abuse at Missouri religious boarding schools. Consultations are confidential.
