Philip Zodhiates – Remains in U.S. Prison For Helping Former Lesbian Mother

Since 2010, Lighthouse Trails has been reporting on the story of former lesbian Lisa Miller and her then-eight-year-old daughter, Isabella. After Lisa committed her life to Christ, she left her lesbian partner when Isabella was about a year old and quit the homosexual lifestyle. Obeying the law, Lisa allowed her young daughter visits to her former partner, but in time, she came to believe that Isabella was undergoing various forms of abuse while on those visits when Isabella. After unsuccessfully trying to stop visits, and after a liberal Vermont judge threatened to give full custody of Isabella to the lesbian and gay-activist ex-partner, Lisa Miller fled the country and went into hiding. Unable to locate her, the partner and the U.S. government went after the men whom they said broke the law by helping Lisa “kidnap” her child.

One of those men, Christian businessman Philip Zodhiates, was sentenced to three years in a U.S. federal prison for “international parental kidnapping.” One news source stated:

Following prosecution by the Obama administration for driving Lisa Miller and her daughter Isabella to the Canadian border in 2009, Zodhiates is now inmate 18649-084 in the Ashland, Kentucky Federal Correctional Institution, where he turned himself in Wednesday [December 5, 2016] according to the sentence of a federal judge.

Zodhiates began serving his prison term in December of 2018. While most of the media coverage about Zodhiates case is coming from the liberal pro-homosexual media, a few outlets are reporting from a biblical stance. One such report from 2018 states:

The Lisa Miller Case has now been going on for fourteen years. Most believers do not have eyes to see what is really going on with this case. Too many are believing the media. From the moment that Equality Virginia, the ACLU and Lambda Legal became involved, the mission of the case has been to establish a precedent for the entire country: criminalizing Christianity in America if that Christianity opposes the LGBT agenda. One could call it the equivalent to Roe v. Wade in the sexual orientation madness world. . . .

Philip broke no laws when he helped Lisa Miller and her biological daughter, Isabella. The 2004 ruling by a Virginia Court making Lisa Miller, the sole parent of Isabella, was still in effect. Lisa still had that full custody of her daughter, and she and Isabella possessed legal passports when they left the country. There were absolutely no travel restrictions imposed on Lisa when Philip gave Lisa and Isabella a ride and few dollars. . . . Phillip’s hearing was judicially manipulated in order to achieve the desired results. The goal of federal prosecutors was to find Philip guilty.

A December 2019 press release titled “Zodhiates Files Motion to Vacate Sentence” states:

Zodhiates all along contended he broke no laws, as Lisa Miller, also charged on the same indictment, had full custody of her child at the time she left the country.  However, this affirmative defense for abuse built into the statute alone signifies Lisa Miller had every right to leave the country and did not break any laws.  Hence, Zodhiates claims “they should never have been indicted, I should never have been tried, and I should never have been convicted.  Adequate counsel would have demonstrated this to the court and jury based on his belief the abuse happened, as well as case precedence.”

One year of Zodhiates three-year sentence has already been served at Ashland Federal Correctional Institution in Kentucky, where Zodhiates claims he is being held as a political prisoner.

The courts, which are pressured by LGBT lobbyists, wanted to make an example of Zodhiates, and this is exactly what they have done, making it clear to Americans that they better not challenge the homosexual agenda that is infiltrating every aspect of our society, even if that challenging only means helping a young mother protect her child.

Please pray for Philip Zodhiates and his wife and children during this difficult time while he is serving his prison sentence. In addition, he is now being sued in civil court in Vermont by Lisa Miller’s former partner and as of this writing, is without legal counsel. If you would like to help with his legal expenses, please click here. You may wish to listen to an interview about this situation that explains much of the case.

Related Information:

Letters written by Philip Zodhiates (these will show you the heart of this man, who, while in prison, is ministering to different prisoners).

US Supreme Court Dismisses Appeal of Christian Imprisoned for Helping Child Flee Lesbian “Mother”