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Man Accused Of Hiding Daughter From Her Mother Out Of Jail

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A South Florida man who had been accused of hiding his three-year-old daughter from the child's mother has been reunited with the little girl.

On Thursday, a Miami-Dade family court judge lifted an emergency order which kept Samuel Montes, 22, from seeing his three-year old daughter Angelina after they saw no concern for the child's welfare.

The judge also ruled that there can be no resolution to the Montes' custody fight until the child's mother returns from Venezuela.

Standing on the courthouse steps with Angelina in his arms, Montes said he's been looking forward to this day for nearly three months.

"I am glad it's all behind us and I'm back with my daughter which is the love of my life," said Montes after the hearing.  "She was on my mind the entire time. I was looking to this day like crazy."

"This was a situation where it was false accusations and it takes awhile.  Justice delayed is justice denied but we got there," said Montes' attorney Michael Grieco.

Montes, who is working with immigration officials on another issue, was released from jail on Wednesday. He will have to wear a GPS monitor until that issue is resolved.

"We are hoping because his daughter is an American citizen and they have prior issues in Venezuela that he'll be able to stay," said Grieco.

On Monday, a judge dismissed interfering with custody charges against Montes and his mother Zoraida Miller.

According to investigators, in March 2011 the girl's mother and Montes' ex-girlfriend, Vanessa Churon, accused him of kidnapping Angelina. She filed a missing persons report before she left for Venezuela to give birth to her second child. She is still there and it is unknown if, or when, she'll return.

"I was being accused of child abuse, child neglect, domestic violence, which was never true as you guys can see," said Montes, "She's perfectly fine. She's everything to me.  She means the world to me."

Police tracked Montes to Pensacola and arrested him in February 2012.  He was then brought back to Miami-Dade.

Last month, Miller was arrested when she produced a healthy and happy Angelina in court to show that she was not 'missing' and was in fact being well taken care of.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman ordered a DCF protection team to do a 'home study' of the Miller residence. The team evaluated the child and found "no evidence of abuse" and found "no environmental hazards" in the home and found that "the child is happy there." DCF announced it had "no grounds" for dependency and Judge Lederman granted the Miller's temporary custody.

There are two different stories as to who has custody of the little girl. At the time Angelina disappeared, her mother claims she had custody. Grieco claims Angelina had been living with her grandparents the whole time she was listed as 'missing' because they in fact had custody.

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