A federal prosecutor who could become a magistrate judge is off a case after accusations he hit on the defendant during a chance meeting in a Fresno bar.

However, a federal judge ruled that the actions of Michael Tierney did not amount to a violation of rights, and denied dismissing the case against Shana Gaviola, formerly of Clovis.

Gaviola and Julio Sandoval, dean of the Agape Boarding School in Stockton, Missouri, allegedly conspired to take Gaviola’s son, Blake McGee, against his will.

McGee had a restraining order against his mother and filed to be an emancipated minor. Federal prosecutors allege that Gaviola and Sandoval arranged to have McGee transported to the Missouri school — about 1,750 miles away — while handcuffed. The school released Gaviola’s son into his father’s custody

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