Child saved from drophouse, but who is she?
by Sean Holstege and JJ Hensley - Oct. 23, 2008 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic
When SWAT team members burst into a west Phoenix drophouse, they saw the usual group of illegal immigrants. But another sight stopped them cold: a sweet-faced, 5-year-old girl.

And nearly a week later, no one knows who she is.

Darnelia didn't know her surname or the names of her parents. She also couldn't name her grandmother, who went missing after they crossed the border illegally from Agua Prieta. The little girl didn't know where she lived in Mexico.
Now, state investigators are desperately trying to reunite her with her family.

"The good news is she's in good health and spirits and had not been abused," said Lt. Bob Smart, who runs immigration enforcement for the Arizona Department of Public Safety. "That was really the only comfort we took."

But more shocks soon followed. Within days of Darnelia's being discovered Friday, two other small, unaccompanied children were found with human coyotes in a smuggling van and another drophouse, a home where illegal immigrants are held to await transfer.

"I don't think I've ever seen that in my 15 years," said Eduardo Preciado, an assistant director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Arizona.

On Tuesday, Maricopa County sheriff's deputies arrested the mother of 2-year-old Jocelyne González Martinez. The woman had come to Phoenix to be reunited with her child after the girl was found in a smuggler's van. Later that day, ICE agents raided a Mesa drophouse and rescued a 4-year-old boy after his mother in Florida reported that coyotes had threatened the child. ICE would not disclose details about the investigation.

Darnelia's case remains a mystery. DPS investigators believe the girl and her grandmother became separated after crossing the border.

The grandmother may have straggled behind, but officers also believe coyotes divided the group of immigrants and loaded Darnelia into a van bound for Phoenix.

Detectives with a specialized task force raided the house on West Mackenzie Drive, near Maryvale Golf Course, after a woman reported her common-law husband was being held hostage there.

The investigators who made the raid routinely bust violent drophouses and confront rapes, tortures and killings. In this case, they found a much less dire situation with none of the typical signs of forced captivity.

Officers rounded up six people, who were arrested on charges of extortion and human smuggling. They found eight adult suspected illegal immigrants and turned them over to ICE. And they found Darnelia.

After the noise and confusion settled, the 5-year-old stole the officers' hearts.

"She was smiling and playing with sticks in the yard and looking up in amazement at the airplanes," Smart said.

The girl remains in the custody of Child Protective Services as investigators sift through so-called pollo books. Those are rosters kept by coyotes to track immigrants' payments, destinations and relatives. Smart is hopeful they will lead to Darnelia's relatives. Coyotes told investigators that Darnelia's father was in California, but this hasn't been confirmed.

"That kid's been loved and cared for. I'm optimistic in human nature," Smart said. "Somebody will come forward, but we're not miracle workers, either. We have to follow all the evidence."

In Jocelyne's case, it took a heavy dose of international news coverage to reunite the 2-year-old with her family after sheriff's deputies found her stuffed into a human-smuggling van Saturday.

The girl's mother, Maria Demetria Martinez Avila, 23, heard about the girl from a friend who saw her photo on television. Martinez contacted authorities with the Mexican Consulate in Phoenix and was on a flight to the Valley to retrieve her daughter on Tuesday.

When Martinez arrived at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, consulate officials took her to meet with sheriff's deputies.

Martinez told deputies she had paid a coyote $3,000 to smuggle Jocelyne to Indiana, where the two were to meet.

The girl had been living with her grandfather in Oaxaca, Mexico, while Martinez worked as a maid in Chicago, according to sheriff's officials.

Martinez thought she was coming to Arizona to be reunited with her child, who was still in CPS custody.

But when consulate officials dropped Martinez off at a Valley hotel, deputies arrested her. She was booked into custody on suspicion of child endangerment, conspiracy to commit child abuse and conspiracy to commit human smuggling.

The Mexican Consulate released a statement Wednesday indicating Jocelyne was en route to Oaxaca where authorities would reunite the child with relatives.

"The unification of Jocelyne with her mother went astray," the consulate said, referring to the arrest and adding that it will help expedite Martinez's "release and safe return to Mexico."

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... a1023.html