United States Citizen Successfully Extradited from South Africa After Kidnapping His Children in 2021

Brad D. Schimel, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, announced that a federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging a Wisconsin man, Clyde Lewis Springfield (41) with the crime of international parental kidnapping.

According to a criminal complaint previously filed in the case, on or about October 29, 2021, Springfield left the United States with his four children and failed to return two of them on November 3, 2021, in accordance with their child custody agreement. Travel records showed that the defendant took his children to South Africa and did not return them to the United States on their scheduled return flight. Authorities obtained a federal criminal complaint against Springfield on November 24, 2021.

On March 16, 2022, through combined efforts of the Department of Justice and law enforcement, the children were located, rescued, and returned safely to the United States. Through an international extradition process, Springfield was returned to the United States on November 20, 2025, and arrested.

If convicted of international parental kidnapping, he faces up to three years of prison, up to a $250k fine, and up to one year of supervised release. 

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the West Allis Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), and the United States Marshall’s Service (USMS) are investigating this case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs worked with law enforcement partners in South Africa to secure the arrest and November 20 extradition to the United States of Lewis-Springfield. Assistant U.S. Attorney Megan J. Thomas is prosecuting the case. 

This investigation is a part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and CEOS, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

# # #

For further information contact:

Public Affairs Officer Steve Caballero                                                                                    

(414) 297-1700

Follow us on X