Suspects Named in Abduction of 3 Year Old Briant Rodriguez

KTLA News
5:52 PM PDT, May 18, 2009

SAN BERNARDINO -- Investigators today announced the names of two men suspected of kidnapping 3-year-old Briant Rodriguez two weeks ago.

Liberto Vega, 30, and Israel Moreno, 28, are believed to be the men who burst into Briant's San Bernardino home May 3 and abducted him after first tying up his family and ransacking the house.

Both men have criminal histories in San Bernardino County.

Also wanted for questioning is Claudia Acosta-Serrano, age 21. Acosta-Serrano is the girlfriend of Vega and investigators believe she was in communication with Vega after the kidnapping and met with him in Mexico.

She is wanted only as a person of interest for questioning.

The boy was found by a Mexican police officer Friday wandering on a street in Mexicali.

According to Lt. Rick Ells of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, a municipal police officer spotted the boy wandering the streets of Mexicali alone late Thursday.

The officer thought that Briant was a neighborhood child, and took him door to door seeking his family before taking him to child protective custody.

Mexican authorities did not realize who the child was and didn't notify U.S. authorities until Friday afternoon, Ells said.

Investigators received a call from a Mexicali official later on Friday saying they found a child that may be Briant Rodriguez, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.

FBI agents and the boy's mother -- Maria Rosalina Millan -- flew to Calexico late Friday, in hopes of identifying the boy as her abducted son.

An FBI agent crossed the border and handled immigration paperwork for the boy, who holds dual U.S. and Mexican citizenship, according to Ells. Then, the FBI agent escorted Briant back across the border to be reunited with his mother.

The reunion did not happen until the day after Rodriguez's mother arrived in Calexico because of the amount of paperwork involved in the cross-border incident.

A spokesman for the Baja California state prosecutor's office also said Millan wasn't able to see the boy right away because he understood she was an illegal immigrant in the U.S. and did not want to risk crossing the border.

San Bernardino police declined to comment on Millan's immigration status.

It was discovered that Briant's kidnappers had shaved the boys hair off in an attempt to hide his identity.

It had become widely known that the 3-year old had long curly hair after his picture was circulated by police and media outlets.

The suspects pictured in a surveillance photo circulated by police are still at large. The two men are believed to have robbed Briant's family at gunpoint before abducting the 3-year old.

San Bernardino County Sheriff Rod Hoops says the image came from a surveillance camera in a store near the home.

Authorities believe the picture was taken two days before the abduction, when the men were buying unspecified material to tie up the family members.

Hoops also says the men could be driving a green Ford Bronco.

Sheriff's investigators said they received numerous tips since Rodriguez was abducted by two armed men who entered his home on Sunday and tied up his family, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.

The two suspects, armed with handguns, tied up the mother and four other children and ransacked the home before escaping with the child and an unknown amount of cash, according to San Bernardino County Sheriff's Spokesperson Cindy Beavers said.

One of the children, an 8-year-old boy, freed himself and then untied the rest of the family, Beavers said.

The ages of the rest of the children was not immediately known, but authorities said Briant is the youngest of Millan's seven children. Her 16-year-old boy was not home and another adult child does not live at home.

The boy's father was at work at the time of the abduction.

San Bernardino Sheriff's officials believe the suspects to be unknown and unrelated to the Rodriguez family.

They said authorities believed they were closing in on at least two suspects when the boy was found.

Investigators have not established any motive and were looking at several theories, including that the Spanish-speaking kidnappers were from Mexico and may have ties to organized crime there.

No ransom was ever demanded.

The family reportedly plans to move out of the home as soon as possible.
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Pictures of them at this link:

They said on the air that both of the suspects are illegal aliens who have been previously deported.

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