http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/ ... rrest.html

Father of kidnapped girl arrested in '05 murder

By YOLANDA RODRÍGUEZ
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/14/06


Sergio Hernandez Maya, charged with kidnapping his infant son and her mother in November, is also facing charges in a 2005 murder.


Manuel Vargas, father of the kidnapped teenager, has been jailed in the murder case. His wife, Maria, (right) says her husband has "nothing to do with all this."

On Thanksgiving, Manuel Vargas pleaded for his daughter's safe return.

His 15-year-old daughter had apparently been abducted at gunpoint by her 21-year-old boyfriend. He also took the couple's 8-month-old son.

Now Vargas is in jail in Paulding County, charged with a 2005 murder. His accomplice: The man police have accused of kidnapping his daughter.

About 36 hours after Vargas' daughter was abducted from her home near Marietta, investigators in North Carolina found her and her baby. They charged her boyfriend and the baby's father, Sergio Hernandez Maya, with kidnapping.

Then investigators filed charges accusing the girl's father and her boyfriend of killing a man in 2005.

The Paulding County Sheriff's Office has charged Vargas with murder in the death of Leobardo Lopez, a 27-year-old mechanic whose body was found in Hiram. Authorities also have obtained an arrest warrant charging Hernandez Maya with murder in that case.

The twist confused Maria Vargas, Manuel Vargas' wife. "He has nothing to do with this," she said Wednesday. "This is all because of the girl's boyfriend, who is very resentful. He is talking because we took the girl away from him. ... The police have two jobs to do. They have to investigate and clear things up."

She and her husband had pleaded on Thanksgiving for the safe return of their daughter, Crystal, a ninth-grader. Now her daughter is back home, but her husband is in jail. "I don't know what's going on," she said.

Meanwhile, in Middle Georgia, investigators in Putnam County have obtained arrest warrants charging Hernandez Maya in a check-counterfeiting scheme that netted more than $126,000.

Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills said Hernandez Maya and several others cashed 119 counterfeit paychecks in an hour and a half by using fake identification. Sills said the check-cashing ring has hit banks and small grocery stores in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and Illinois.

"We suspect this group has, over the last 10 months or so, defrauded banks and grocery stores in excess of $1 million," he said. "This was probably one of the biggest fraud cases we've worked. I've worked bank fraud cases where more money was involved, but not that quick."

Sills said Hernandez Maya cashed checks under four names.

"I've been looking for him for a long time," he said.