Dad Whose Kids Who Were Locked Up for Not Having Lunch With Him Files For Sole Custody

PONTIAC (WWJ) - A father whose kids were sent to Children's Village after they refused to have lunch with him has filed for sold custody.

Omer Tsimhoni on Thursday filed a motion in Oakland County Circuit Court for "sole legal and sole physical custody" of the children — ages 14, 10 and 9.

The case made national headlines earlier this month when Judge Lisa Gorcyca ordered the Bloomfield Hills siblings to juvenile detention after they defied her order to visit with their dad. She backtracked last week, however, lifting civil contempt of court charges against the trio and releasing them to a summer camp.

In a court filing, Tsimhoni's attorneys claim their client has been diligent, since the divorce filing, in his efforts to maintain a relationship with his kids, traveling to the U.S. from Israel, where he works, to visit them.

Meantime, Tsimhoni claims, his ex-wife Maya Eibschitz-Tsimhoni, has acted as a "constant roadblock," demanding that his time with his children be supervised "as she unjustifiably believes that the children are in danger from being physically harmed or kidnapped to places unknown."

In the same filing, Tsimhoni's lawyers claim Eibschitz-Tsimhoni failed to heed the advice of a mental health professional assigned by the court, and that the same professional found "very clear dynamics of parental alienation and indicated that the children had not been appropriately supported by their mother in maintaining a healthy relationship with their father."

Attorneys also contend in the filing that Eibschitz-Tsimhoni is directly responsible for the kids not wanting to see their father, and that she's lied to the court about it.

WWJ Legal Analyst Charlie Langton said obtaining sole custody will be tough.

"Courts just don't change custody for any reason; there's got to be a good reason. And the test of all of these cases, in a general sense, is: What is in the best interest of the kids?" said Langton.

"Dad will get expanded visitation, maybe supervised visitation, maybe some unsupervised visitation before he would have a chance of getting full custody. The test is very difficult to develop custody when you really haven't had the kids for any extended period of time," he said.

Gorcyca has said she believed the sibling were "brainwashed," but Eibschitz-Tsimhoni denies that, telling reporters at the courthouse last week that she "absolutely" wants the children to have a relationship with their dad.

Both parents have been allowed supervised visits with the children since they've been at camp.

A hearing to determine if Tsimhon will gain custody of the kids is scheduled for next Wednesday, July 22.