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Girl, 13, Reportedly Abducted in Mexico, Is Found Unharmed
By Susana Enriquez and Rong-Gong Lin II, Times Staff Writers

A 13-year-old Mexican girl en route from Jalisco to Southern California to meet her family was allegedly abducted and held captive for four days before sheriff's deputies found her in Riverside County, authorities said Wednesday.

Deputies found Gema Cabrera and seven Mexican men in a car in a desolate area of the county about 11 p.m. Tuesday, as the driver of the vehicle escaped on foot, said El Monte Police Det. Ralph Batres.

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Three of the men were found in the trunk.

Police believe that the seven men were uninvolved in the kidnapping or were themselves abducted, Batres said. Gema was kidnapped in Tijuana, he said.

A man who identified himself as Arturo allegedly called Gema's family in Riverside County late Tuesday demanding $1,700 in exchange for the girl, Batres said.

The family was told to meet him at Etiwanda Avenue and Van Buren Boulevard, east of Ontario near the intersection of the 15 and 60 freeways.

When Riverside County sheriff's deputies arrived at the scene, the driver of the black vehicle fled on foot, according to Batres. No arrests have been made.

Federal immigration officials took custody of the seven men, interviewed Gema, who was unharmed, and released her to her family in Riverside, Batres said.

Police believe that the kidnapper did not know the girl or her family and was probably a "coyote," someone who smuggles people into the United States, Batres said.

Gema said she was at an airport in Tijuana on Friday, waiting to be picked up by an aunt who would drive her to the United States, when a man approached her.

He told her that he was a family friend and was there to pick her up, she said.

The aunt "was in the airport, but this stranger approached her first, and little did she know she was being kidnapped," Batres said.

Gema, who had never met the aunt, said she was confused about what to do.

"I didn't believe him," she said in Spanish, referring to the man. "I didn't want to go, but I didn't want to be there all night either."

Several questions remain about the girl's abduction, and an investigation is continuing.

Batres said it was unusual for someone to be kidnapped and transported across the border and held for ransom.

It's also unclear, he said, why the family waited three days before reporting the kidnapping to police in El Monte, where they recently lived.

Meanwhile, federal immigration officials are aware that Gema is in the country, and she could be deported, Batres said.

Gema's mother, Maria Cabrera, said she was just happy that her daughter was safe and with her family.

"A thousand things ran through my mind about what could have happened to her," said Cabrera, who has visited her daughter periodically in the six years since she came to the United States.