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An embattled guardian ad litem in the Minnesota Ninth Judicial District recently sent shock-waves through a Minnesota court after he reversed his official sworn testimony in a high-conflict custody case.

Matthew Petrovich didn’t just change his opinion - he changed his official sworn testimony and position in what appears to be an attempt to defend a person, or group of person, involved in black market baby sales.

Petrovich testified before Honorable Tamara Yon on October 9, 2013 during a Family Court hearing that he believed Investigative Journalist Timothy Charles Holmseth is paranoid and recommended the Court require Holmseth to see his child under supervision.

The claim by Petrovich, which was subsequently debunked by a licensed psychologist and custody evaluator, has resulted in a litany of questions about Petrovich’s motives, associations, and allegiances.

Timothy Charles Holmseth is a journalist – he interviewed key figures in the national profile kidnapping case of HaLeigh Cummings, as well as the Caylee Anthony murder.

Holmseth was summoned by the Minneapolis FBI in 2010 and interviewed by a special agent at the request of the Jacksonville, Florida office. The FBI requested he provide some of his audio interviews from his journalism project.

In 2011, Holmseth authored a book about HaLeigh Cummings.

Holmseth maintains Petrovich, East Grand Forks City Attorney Ronald Galstad, along with his child’s mother, Rhonda Callahan, Grand Forks, are in contact with out of state individuals whose voices are on the recordings he gave the FBI.  

Holmseth says Callahan repeatedly assists the group, by using his small son to improperly achieve venue in the Minnesota District Court, through bogus motions made in the Family Division.

In October of 2013, Petrovich and Callahan told the Court that Holmseth is delusional and paranoid and pointed to stories and articles he published on his website as evidence. They said his website is having an adverse affect on his son.

Their suspicious allegations did not stand the test of time.

On February 1, 2014 the ugly picture Petrovich and Callahan painted of Holmseth became a mirror, after Holmseth was inexplicably attacked online and threatened while privately researching black market baby sales.

The un-provoked attack changed everything.

Several out-of-state individuals, all known to the Court and police, threatened Holmseth after he researched a story about a place called Hampton Hall, a black market baby sales operation once featured in a story by the Gainesville Sun. Holmseth’s research was private and it is not readily known how the group even knew what he was doing.

He was being monitored.

The threats erupted only minutes after he sent a Facebook friend request to a woman in Florida that had been sold as an infant on the black market out of Hampton Hall. The threats against Holmseth included assurances that if he contacted the woman (Lisa Kay Floyd Morash) again he would be “involuntarily committed” into a “mental institution” and/or put in “jail”.

Holmseth did not respond or reply in any way and, as is his custom; reported it to law enforcemt..

The un-provoked attack has put the Minnesota Guardian Ad Litem Program in a very precarious position.

On January 18, 2014, Holmseth publicly accused Petrovich and the Minnesota Guardian Ad Litem Program of engaging in a state-sponsored kidnapping of Holmseth’s child. He provided emails to State officials that showed Petrovich contacted him in the summer of 2013, advised that his website was being monitored, and warned him to start thinking about what is important to him.

The latest series of events completely supports what Holmseth has been saying and reporting to law enforcement the entire time.

But Petrovich remains unrepentant.

Upon learning of the stalking and threats against Holmseth, Petrovich openly defied the Court’s Order (which he himself was instrumental in obtaining) and completely reversed his previous testimony to the Court. “You, Levi Page, and REDACTED can call names and talk trash all you want, as long as it doesn't involve REDACTED in any way,” Petrovich said.

Petrovich’s new position is the exact opposite of what he told the District Judge in Court to obtain the Order in the first place.

The existing Court Order, which was issued on November 6, 2013, states, “The Respondent and Mr. Petrovich believe that the Petitioner has contributed to [the child’s] emotional difficulties. Specifically, they cite evidence of the Petitioner’s online activities (mostly relating to the HaLeigh Cummings / [REDACTED] case in Florida) together with a new online embroilment by the Petitioner with a person named William Murtaugh.”

“The Respondent and Mr. Petrovich believe the Petitioner’s significant, prolonged involvement with these online activities are affecting [the child] in a negative way – whether directly or in-directly, [the child] is aware of Petitioner’s online activities and it is affecting [the child] for the worse,” the Order said.

One of the people the Judge named as being part of the online ‘embroilments’ was among the group that recently threatened Holmseth.  

Holmseth says Petrovich has always known about the stalking and threats but deliberately hides the truth from the Judge. Alternatively, Petrovich falsely accuses Holmseth of being paranoid or delusional whenever he attempts to defend himself and his children from the near constant barrage of attacks.

In January of 2014, Dr. Madaline Barnes PhD, a renowned psychologist and forensic examiner with Sanford Medical Center, assessed Holmseth and found him to be mentally healthy; completely normal; and a loving parent. The court-ordered evaluation was Holmseth’s third in only five years; he has passed every single time.

Holmseth has also been through several in-depth child abuse and neglect investigations, which were all based upon allegations made by Rhonda Callahan. Each investigation found absolutely no sign of abuse or neglect and Holmseth was cleared every time.

One of the individuals that threatened Holmseth was also named specifically by Dr. Barnes. She advised the Court that evidence she viewed proved Callahan was communicating with the person.

The recent attack on Holmseth has proved beyond any doubt he is not the aggressor. .

The larger truth lies in the possession of the FBI’s human trafficking unit, which received information from Holmseth about human trafficking and baby sales.

Holmseth turned over audio recordings to the feds that contained an extremely dark and disturbing interview he conducted with Wayanne Kruger, a child’s sex victim advocate that represented Crystal Sheffield, the mother of HaLeigh Cummings. Kruger described to Holmseth a baby sales operation in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which she said sold infants to buyers in foreign countries. She revealed the names of those involved and described their methods.

Petrovich’s activities are known to Suzanne Alliegro, administrator, Minnesota Guardian Ad Litem Program. 

Petrovich’s supervisor, Traci Kapella, MSW, has taken a statement from Holmseth. .

Holmseth believes Petrovich should be investigated by federal authorities. 

The Minnesota District Court will be hearing this matter of March 11, 2014 at the Polk County Justice Center in Crookston, Minnesota at 3:00 p.m.

This is a developing story.

For more on this story visit:

Minnesota journalist being systematically monitored by human traffickers

State-sponsored child abduction exposed

Guardian Ad Litem Program dealt blow

Institutional kidnapping