[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 23 (Wednesday, March 6, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H690-H691]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1015
                     INTERNATIONAL CHILD ABDUCTION

  (Mr. LAMPSON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise again today to talk about Ludwig 
Koons. Ludwig is still being held illegally by his mother in Italy.
  He was born in New York City in 1992. When he was a year old, his 
mother, Ilona Staller, took him to Rome. After promising a quick 
return, Ilona delayed her return to the United States after Mr. Koons 
had purchased tickets for his family to return to New York. But in 
December of 1993 he learned that Ilona had left their son with unknown 
third parties and traveled to Ecuador to participate in an erotic 
pornographic show.
  Mr. Koons quickly went to Rome to find his son. He found Ludwig 
confused, disoriented and abandoned by his mother, left in the care of 
a foreigner who spoke neither Italian nor English. Ludwig's housing 
environment was filled with pornography and was physically dangerous 
due to construction materials left strewn about. Neither the Italian 
nor the United States governments are helping to correct this 
situation.
  Mr. Speaker, we would not want our own children in this kind of an 
environment. We should not want it for any American child. It is time 
to bring our children home.

[[Page H691]]



                          ____________________