A mother loved her son the way that he is. Despite his issues, she vowed to protect him — even from himself.
Now, she’s heading to prison for orchestrating a plan to rescue her son from transgender activists who were secretly ‘transitioning’ him in a California school.
That is, unless President Donald Trump does something extraordinary — and intervenes.
Shana Gaviola, a California mother of four, including son Blake, is scheduled to surrender to federal prison on August 24 to begin a three-year sentence for interstate violation of a protection order.
Her attorneys are now asking President Donald Trump to intervene with a full and unconditional pardon.
According to Gaviola and records cited in her pardon application, Blake had behavioral problems documented at school. At 13, he began identifying as a girl, asked to use a female name, and sought gender-related interventions. Gaviola opposed those requests.
Gaviola maintains that she believed the issue had subsided. School records, however, indicate that his Fresno public school was secretly recognizing his female identity without informing his mother and providing him with information about gender-related services.
The family situation deteriorated further in 2020, when Blake was arrested over allegations that he had sexually abused a 7-year-old neighbor, according to the pardon application and police records cited by Gaviola's advocates.
With younger children still living in her home, Gaviola arranged for Blake to stay temporarily with family friend Susan Reynolds. The arrangement did not remain temporary.
READ MORE: Whistleblower Nurse Vindicated After Exposing Alleged Illegal Transitions at TX Children’s Hospital
When Gaviola sought to have her son return home in 2021, Reynolds instead assisted Blake in seeking a restraining order against his mother and pursued emancipation.
Gaviola says she has not spoken to her son since.
A California mother is heading to federal prison for three years after trying to stop her teenage son from transitioning... thanks to the Biden regime and Democrats!!
— Mike Netter (@nettermike) August 20, 2026
Shana Gaviola refused to affirm her son’s desire to transition after his California school began socially… pic.twitter.com/wyKYX999Jc
Now, the mother believed that she retained the rights to direct her biological son’s medical care and personal decisions regardless of the State of California’s interventions.
Gaviola's attorneys contend that a preexisting custody decree identified her as Blake's custodial parent and that there were defects in the service of the restraining order.
She then hired a transport team that included former law-enforcement personnel to take Blake from California to Agape Boarding School, a Christian boarding school in Missouri.
Blake was restrained during the roughly 27-hour trip and remained at Agape for eight days. The school itself later became engulfed in controversy over allegations of mistreatment and abuse, and shut down in 2023.
Blake's biological father, who shared legal custody, ultimately arranged to have him removed from the school. Gaviola alleges that Reynolds paid the father $20,000 to return Blake to her care.
Federal prosecutors charged Gaviola with interstate violation of a protection order. She was convicted and ultimately sentenced by U.S. District Judge John Coughenour to three years in federal prison.
California dragged Shana Gaviola to prison for opposing the gender transition of her son.
— American Principles Project (@approject) August 20, 2026
When Gaviola discovered that her son's public school began secretly transitioning him, she pulled him out and made plans to send him to a Christian boarding school.
The Biden DOJ charged… pic.twitter.com/6Iq4Rh6Aja
The Department of Justice announcement was made in April.
Shana Gaviola, 39, of Fresno, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour to three years in prison for interstate violation of a protection order for causing her estranged teenage son to be taken against his will and transported from California to Missouri, U.S. Attorney Eric Grant announced.
On Dec. 9, 2025, following a five-day trial, a federal jury found Gaviola guilty.
According to court documents and testimony at trial, in 2020, Gaviola’s then-16-year-old son began living apart from Gaviola with another family. He petitioned for emancipation from Gaviola and obtained a domestic violence protection order against Gaviola from the Fresno County Superior Court. The order prohibited Gaviola from harassing, blocking the movements of, or contacting her son in any way, including directly or indirectly.
Despite the protection order, Gaviola made plans for her son to be forcibly transported from California to Missouri. On Aug. 21, 2021, individuals acting on behalf of Gaviola abducted the minor from an ice-skating rink in Fresno, handcuffed him, and forced him into a car. He remained in handcuffs for more than 24 hours while they drove to Stockton, Missouri. He was then held at a youth facility until his father was able to free him.
Now, here is the real interesting part. According to the American Principles Project, Blake never transitioned and does not regret what his mother did.
The Biden DOJ charged her with kidnapping and sought the harshest penalty possible. Gaviola is going to prison for three years.
Her son is now an adult and never transitioned. Gaviola's sentence starts next week.
Gaviola said about the case: “I would not be going to prison if I had done nothing. That’s the part I can’t accept -- the law was safe for the mother who looks away, and unforgiving to the one who didn’t.”
If ever there was a case for clemency, this one is it. A mother's instinct to protect her son is a matter of natural law. It transcends the immoral laws of transgender activists who believe they have the right to "transition" a person's gender against their parent's will.
