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Ex-Olympic champ charged with abduction
2006-12-23
Former Olympic biathlon champion Myriam Bedard was in police custody in Maryland on Saturday on a child abduction charge after U.S. marshals found the athlete and her daughter at a hotel on the girl's 12th birthday. The 37-year-old Bedard was taken into custody Friday night, said Michael Kulstad, a spokesman for the marshal service. Bedard is to appear Tuesday in federal court in Baltimore. Bedard's daughter is in protective custody. Quebec City police spokeswoman Sandra Dion told The Canadian Press the daughter will be reunited soon in Quebec City with her father, Jean Pacquet. Quebec City police swore out an arrest warrant against Bedard on Dec. 8 after her former husband said she had taken their daughter from Quebec City without his permission. Bedard reportedly was traveling in the United States with her current husband, Nima Mazhari. Dion said the arrest warrant applied only to Bedard, not to Mazhari. Mazhari has had his own legal trouble. He was charged in 2005 with theft and possession of about 20 stolen paintings worth $100,000. Bedard won the 7.5-kilometer and 15-kilometer races at the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics. She was a bronze medalist in the 15K at the 1992 Albertville Olympics.
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