California mother seeks Trump pardon after starting prison term in son’s gender transition fight

A California mother has started a three-year federal prison term while asking President Donald Trump to pardon her.

Shana Gaviola, 39, surrendered to federal authorities Monday. Her lawyers have formally requested a pardon from Trump.

A federal jury found Gaviola guilty in December 2025 of violating a protection order across state lines. U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour sentenced her in April.

The case stems from a long fight over Gaviola’s oldest son.

According to Gaviola and records cited in her pardon request, her son started saying he was a girl at age 13. He asked his mother to call him by a female name and let him pursue so-called gender-transition treatment.

Gaviola refused. She later learned his Fresno public school was treating him as a female without telling her. School staff also spoke with him about medical steps he could take to transition, she said.

By 2020, the boy was 16 years old and lived with another family. He later asked a court for emancipation. He also obtained a domestic violence protection order against his mother. The court barred Gaviola from contacting him or participating in any effort to restrict his movement.

Gaviola’s lawyers say she still thought an earlier custody order gave her the right to direct her minor son’s care. They also claim she was not properly served with the protection order.

In August 2021, Gaviola hired a transport team made up of former law enforcement officers. The team took her son from an ice-skating rink in Fresno. He was put in handcuffs and driven to Agape Boarding School, a Christian youth facility in southwestern Missouri.

The son was restrained for more than 24 hours during the trip, according to the Justice Department. He stayed at the school for just over one week before his father removed him. Agape later closed as it faced claims that staff abused students.

Federal officials treated the incident as an abduction.

“No parent – indeed, no person whatsoever – has the right to subject a child to kidnapping and terror for that reason or any other reason,” U.S. Attorney Eric Grant said after the verdict.

Gaviola says she wanted to stop her son from making a life-changing choice while he was still a child.

She has said she regrets trusting people she should not have trusted and parts of how she handled what happened.

“As a mother, I did what I believed was necessary to protect not only my child, but other children as well,” Gaviola said.

The judge kept much of the family’s history out of the trial. Gaviola couldn’t present her son’s school records or evidence about why he first left her home, reports said.

Gaviola’s lawyers have asked Trump to act without making her wait through the usual pardon process. Her three younger children are now staying with relatives. Trump has not publicly answered the request.

The case comes as schools nationwide face scrutiny and legal action for hiding gender changes from parents.

As Heartlander News previously reported, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked California school rules requiring staff to conceal such information. The justices said parents were likely to win their claims that these rules violated their religious freedom and parental rights.