Disappeared from Mission Bay High : Police, Schools Search for Retarded Youth

Police and school officials are searching the city for a 17-year-old mentally retarded youth who has been lost since boarding a city bus outside Mission Bay High School before noon Tuesday.

Rigoberto Perez was last seen about 7 p.m. Tuesday in La Jolla after his disappearance from Mission Bay High School touched off a search involving teachers, bus drivers and police. By late Wednesday night, the Southeast San Diego youth had not been located.

The search has been complicated by Perez’s troubles communicating--he is moderately retarded and English is not his native language--and by delays in getting accurate information from three other retarded students who boarded the bus with him.

It has also led teachers and administrators to rethink a policy that allows the school’s 30 retarded students to spend their lunch period without direct supervision on Mission Bay High’s open campus, where they have easy access to city buses.

Perez’s mother said Wednesday evening that she is waiting by the telephone for a call from police or one of her other two sons, who were searching downtown La Jolla after they received a report that the youth had been seen there Tuesday night about 7 p.m.

“I’m picking up the phone on the first ring,” she said. “I don’t want to tie up the line. He may be trying to call me.”

The Latino boy is 5-foot-2, weighs 150 pounds and has rounded features and black, wavy hair. He was wearing black pants, a red sweater and sneakers.

Perez, a trainable mentally retarded student whose IQ is in the 60-70 range, apparently boarded a city bus outside Mission Bay High with three retarded girls shortly before 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, said Allan Peck, vice principal at the school.

The four were part of a group of seven students who were instructed to meet teacher Robert Bray for a bus ride to Clairemont High School, where they were to receive vocational instruction. Tuesday was the first day of the program.

But sometime before the scheduled rendezvous, Perez and the three girls boarded the wrong bus by themselves, apparently ending up at University Towne Center, Peck said. Asking a bus driver for directions, the three girls boarded another bus and showed up at Clairemont High about 1 p.m., but for unknown reasons, Perez did not arrive with them, Peck said.

Believing Perez was still riding the bus that brought the girls to Clairemont High, teachers contacted city bus officials, who alerted drivers to look for Perez. But he was not spotted on the route or at the bus terminal in downtown San Diego, Peck said. Police, school security personnel and Perez’s family were alerted later in the afternoon, Peck said.

It was not until Wednesday that the girls, who also have difficulty communicating and were upset, revealed to teachers that Perez had never boarded the bus that took them to Clairemont High, Peck said.

After speaking to bus drivers and aides at University Towne Center, school officials determined that Perez was last seen at the bus stop behind Robinson’s in University Towne Center about 5:47 p.m.

But Perez’s mother, Maria, said she was told Wednesday night that her son had been seen about 7 p.m. Tuesday in downtown La Jolla by a San Diego County Transit driver. She said she sent her other two sons to look for him there Wednesday night.

School officials, who initially believed that Perez had a wallet with identification and money, found the wallet and his jacket in a classroom at Mission Bay High on Wednesday--more than 24 hours after he disappeared. They believe Perez may have had 25 cents with him when he became lost.

Perez’s mother said her son carries the family’s phone number with him but is probably incapable of using the telephone. She said he probably does not know his address.

Peck said that Perez and other retarded students have previously been responsible about following directions to meet teachers at a rendezvous point, and are given the run of Mission Bay High during lunch along with the school’s other students. About 10 staff members routinely supervise the lunch area during lunchtime, he said.

“Mission Bay is an open campus and the students are free to wander around the campus and sometimes they eat in front of the school on the lawn,” Peck said.

“The (retarded) students, at this point in their education, are deemed to at least have received sufficient training to respond to the directions that the staff gives them,” Peck said. But he added that the policy may have to be tightened in light of Tuesday’s incident, which he called the first of its kind.

School officials and police are checking the possibility that Perez may have boarded a northbound bus and may be in a North County suburb.

Asked if he believes that Perez may be hurt, Peck said, “At this point in time I’d like to be optimistic and think that the kid is just lost, and some kind soul has taken him in.”