Baby Reported Kidnapped Found Safe, Police Say
Authorities found an 8-month-old child unharmed late Tuesday night after a woman claiming to be the child’s mother reported he was kidnapped.
Police now say the child, Jesus, was not kidnapped but was a victim of a tangled dispute.
Marcela Valenzo called police at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday saying that four men in a sedan had taken the infant while she was standing in the 1000 block of South Ross Street in Santa Ana.
But police became suspicious when some details she described, such as the car and the ethnicity of the kidnappers, were inconsistent.
After several hours of questioning, police discovered Valenzo was the child’s caretaker, not the mother.
By interviewing some of the child’s family members and neighbors, police finally located the child with a woman claiming to be his relative in the 2700 block of South Rene Drive.
McDaniel said the biological mother has not been located.
The infant is now in county custody at Orangewood Children’s Home. Police said the alleged kidnappers and Valenzo were released pending a district attorney’s investigation.
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