Gymnast's Dad Must Stay Away

The father of gymnast Dominique Moceanu was ordered Wednesday to stay away from her for a full year.

The gymnast wept and her father appeared dumbstruck as state District Judge John Montgomery ruled that Dumitru Moceanu's recent action constituted family violence under Texas law.

Montgomery, who declared the 16-year-old Olympic star a legal adult on Oct. 28, ruled Moceanu cannot get within 500 feet of his daughter, cannot threaten or have her followed in any way, and may only contact her in writing through her lawyer.

"This job comes with a robe and gavel, not a magic wand to make the pain go away," Montgomery said.

The decision followed more than four hours of testimony in a hearing called by the gymnast and her attorney.

Dumitru Moceanu told the court he met with a private investigator to learn where his estranged daughter was living.

Moceanu sometimes rolled her eyes during her father's testimony under questioning by her court-appointed attorney, Ellen Yarrell. She also ignored attempts by her mother, Camelia, to make eye contact in the courtroom.

Dumitru Moceanu said he never paid a private investigator even though he met with one three times. The gymnast had not told her parents of her new address since Montgomery granted her adult status.

"I talk with investigator just to find the address," said Dumitru Moceanu, a Romanian immigrant. "I don't pay him."

Her father also denied following his daughter, but conceded he asked her to pull over at a stoplight after school recently.

Since she attained legal adulthood, Moceanu says she has endured verbal threats and stalking by her father. Police also are investigating a private investigator's claim that Dumitru Moceanu offered to pay $10,000 to have a friend and her coach killed.

Tape recordings thought to include threats were submitted by the Houston Police Department Wednesday morning for the judge's review in chambers. They were not entered formally into evidence.

Dominique Moceanu wipes away a tear in court Wednesday. (AP)

"The threat of danger from my father hangs over me every day," the gymnast said in court papers filed a week ago for the restraining order.

The gymnast was supported in court by several friends and her publicist, Janey Miller. The conflict began when she decided to fight for control over her millions in earnings and has escalated ever since.

"It's just awful," Miller said. "It is literally tearing them apart."

The stormy relationship between father and daughter caught public notice in late October, when she fled from her home with the help of friends Marcy and Brian Huggins and her coach, Luminita Miscenco. Huggins had befriended the Olympian while performing some work at the $4 million Moceanu Gymnastics Inc. facility north of Houston.

"Things have been getting rough for a while, a lot of people don't know," Moceanu said in her original lawsuit. "We've been trying to keep things hidden. It hurts because I have to go against my own father. It is my family that has to suffer with this. I suffered a lot. I knew I was doing right thing in my heart and I stuck with it."

The Hugginses also have obtained a restraining order against Dumitru Moceanu.

Encouraged by fellow athletes including gymnast Kurt Thomas to take more control of her finances, Moceanu dogged her father and mother for answers about how her earnings, secured in a trust fund that they alone have access to, were being spent.

"I kill myself training and going to school, and what is he doing with my money?" Moceanu told the Houston Chronicle at the time. "They haven't been working since 1996. Where does their income come from? Me."

After months of stonewalling, the young athlete decided her only alternative was the courtroom. With her coach by her side, the gymnast phoned an attorney from a shopping mall pay phone. Within days, she filed suit against her parents, asking a judge for adult status so she could legally begin asking for an accounting of how her trust fund was spent.

"It always had to be about the gym," she said then about her relationship with her parents. "I would think, 'Don't you guys know anything besides gymnastics? Can't we go out for ice cream? Can't you be my mom and dad instead of me being your business?"'

She also revealed how her every move was monitored by her father, that she had yet to go unchaperoned on a date. She also revealed that her father has hit her "a couple of times" and that she "never had a childhood."

Dumitru and Camelia Moceanu fueled their daughter's Olympic dream starting at age 3. They brought her to Houston so she could be coached by Bela Karolyi.

At 14, Miss Moceanu was the youngest American ever to win an Olympic gold medal in gymnatics during the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta.

With earnings generated by public appearances and competition, her parents built a 70,000 square-foot gym just north of Houston a few years ago.

In terms of her future, however, Moceanu told CBS News she just isnÂ't sure. Â"If things go well, I've got to see what my plans are in the future, you know, school, gymnastics, and whatever else I'm going to want to do. But as far as right now, I'm just trying to get things back on track and slowly I'll look into that.Â"

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