Mom of Lakeville boy abandoned by father comes forward

The mother he long thought was dead says she wants to be part of Sebastian Cross' future.

Abandoned by his father, now under arrest in California, the 11-year-old Lakeville boy remains in the care of an aunt. Court and child-protection workers will ultimately decide where he lives.

Katik Porter, who hasn't seen her son for nearly a decade, called Dakota County officials Wednesday to say she wanted to be part of those discussions. She's now working with child-protection officials and could request custody of Sebastian, said Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom.

Also on Wednesday, Steven A. Cross appeared in San Luis Obispo Superior Court, where he waived extradition, clearing the way for his return to Minnesota to face child-neglect charges.

In a jailhouse interview with California TV station KSBY on Tuesday night, Cross said he'll fight the charges.

"I was doing the best I thought I could do for my son," Cross said. "It was tough being a single dad. ... I didn't want him to remember his dad as homeless."

Cross, 60, disappeared July 18, leaving Sebastian a pair of letters that told him to move in with neighbors and revealing that he had lied to the boy about his mother, telling him she'd died of cancer.

"Some good news is your mother is still alive," Cross wrote. "Though I do not think it is for the best."

Porter, 38, also known as Katik Splitstoesser, couldn't be located for a child-protection hearing scheduled in late July, so Sebastian was placed with a maternal aunt.

Porter's visitation rights had been suspended in 2002 after she didn't visit, records show, but her parental rights were never terminated, Backstrom said.

In a 2001 interview with Twin Cities Public Television about families struggling to get off welfare, Porter, using the name Splitstoesser, said her own mother had left her to be raised by relatives, who depended on public assistance.

She said she'd also turned to welfare to raise her five children, but had been working for more than two years.

Cross, who was arrested Monday on the way to his job at a deli in Cambria, Calif., is expected to be returned to Minnesota in the next week or two. He is being held without bail, said a spokeswoman for the San Luis Obispo district attorney's office.

Once back in Minnesota, he may also face fraud charges. Lakeville police on Wednesday forwarded their reports to prosecutors.

"I expect to make a decision on whether additional criminal charges will be made against Mr. Cross in this financial-related matter shortly," Backstrom said, declining to elaborate.

Joy Powell • 952-882-9017