Thread: FL:Amber Alert Baby On Way Back To Parents

Amber Alert Baby On Way Back To Parents


http://plantcity2.tbo.com/content/2009/ ... -old/news/


PLANT CITY - A baby taken from her mother in Plant City on Monday and recovered in Manatee County this afternoon is expected to be reunited with her parents soon.

Investigators have left the Manatee County Sheriff's Office with 2-month-old Sandra Cruz-Francisco and are driving back to Plant City to return Sandra to her mother. The child is unharmed and safe.

A woman accused of taking a 2-month-old child from her mother turned the child in to the Manatee County Sheriff's Office about 1 p.m., investigators say.

Manatee deputies received an anonymous call this afternoon that someone had information regarding an Amber Alert issued for the missing child, Manatee sheriff's spokesman Dave Bristow said. Deputies were told to go to the 6000 block of 34th St. W. in Bradenton.

When deputies arrived, the girl and the woman accused of taking her were waiting for them. The woman had the child in her arms and told investigators, "here is the Amber Alert baby," a Manatee sheriff's office news release states.

Deputies are holding the woman until Plant City officers can speak with her. Manatee deputies spoke with her but would not release details of the conversation.

The Amber Alert has been canceled.

The incident began Monday afternoon when a woman claiming to be an immigration official convinced the girl's mother that handing the child over would protect the family from being deported, the mother said today.

Rosa Sirilo-Francisco, 30, of Plant City, said she gave her baby to an immigration official named Janet and only later decided Janet wasn't who she claimed to be.

Police said this afternoon that they would like to speak with 43-year-old Amaila Tabata Pereira, who also goes by the names Alalia Rivera, Amalia Segui and Almalia Maldonao. Police said later this afternoon that they think the woman posed as "Janet" before taking the child.

"We're fairly confident that she is the person who had taken the baby," Plant City police spokesman Cpt. Darrell Wilson said.

No charges have been filed. But investigators expect to charge Pereira with the child's kidnapping, a Plant City Police Department news release states.

Sirilo-Francisco said that about 3 p.m. Monday she took her daughter to the Plant City Health Department office at 302 N. Michigan Ave. for a routine checkup.

She said that's when she was approached by Janet, a woman she didn't know. Janet claimed to be an immigration official and said immigration officers were waiting for Sirilo-Francisco and the child's father at their home to deport them to Mexico. Janet claimed she wanted to help the couple, but she had to take the baby with her, Sirilo-Francisco said.

Janet and Sirilo-Francisco left in Janet's vehicle, and they rode to a nearby Kash 'n Karry, where they discussed how Janet would help the couple avoid deportation. Sirilo-Francisco, who said she was scared, believed Janet. During the conversation, Sirilo-Francisco also noticed there was a child's car seat in Janet's vehicle.

The two then rode to the farm where the child's father works as a laborer.

Janet told him what she had told Sirilo-Francisco.

Sirilo-Francisco and Janet then went back to the health department, where Sirilo-Francisco had left her own car. She handed over the child there, and Janet said she would give the girl back at 8 a.m. Thursday. Janet told them she was taking the child to Miami.

When Sirilo-Francisco came home and told a relative in Georgia what had happened, the relative told her that what happened isn't how United States government works.

Afraid that her baby had been abducted, Sirilo-Francisco told police what happened. Police told her Janet didn't work with the immigration department, Sirilo-Francisco said.

Sirilo-Francisco is still worried about getting deported, but she said she was more concerned about getting their baby back.

Wilson said he did not know all the details of Sirilo-Francisco's story but that there was no reason to believe she fabricated her tale to police.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is looking into her story.

"We commend the law enforcement community in Florida for uniting to bring this baby to safety," immigration spokesman Ivan L. Ortiz-Delgado wrote. "The impersonation of a federal agent is a serious crime and ICE has launched an investigation into the matter."

When asked about Sirilo-Francisco's immigration status, he wrote: "As mentioned earlier, ICE has launched an investigation into this matter; therefore, the investigation is ongoing and in order to preserve its integrity, we have no further comments."

...mmm.....I bet there's more to this story...perhaps the child was taken as collateral for an unpaid smuggling or drug debt.....illegal aliens aren't known for their trustworthiness. Each one of the players in this game have every incentive to lie to get sympathy and avoid deportation and prosecution.

Even if this is the "whole" story, and the way this really went down, which I seriously doubt, the mother should be charged with child neglect. She handed her newborn over to a complete stranger without calling the police or ICE, because the woman promised to help her avoid deportation? She put her child's life at risk so she could stay in the U.S.? What is wrong with her?
This is one reason of many why illegal immigration is wrong. These people don't even bother to learn the laws of this country, they don't learn how things are done, they are suspicious of everyone in law enforcement, they don't trust anyone who isn't like them, they are willing to use children as bargaining chips.
This story makes no sense at all. A stranger claims to be working for some agency who is going to deport mom. If mom gives this stranger the newborn, she won't get deported, and will get the baby back in the morning? And this fool mother believed this story? Or does she just think law enforcement, ICE, the FBI, lawyers, and judges (and anyone else who gets involved in this case) will be stupid enough to believe her? The kidnapper had a carseat so she could be trusted? I understand that carseats are rarely or never used in Mexico, because most believe that if baby is sitting on mom or nana's lap in the front seat, they will be able to hold onto baby in even a 30MPH accident and baby will NOT go flying through the window, but since when is having a carseat a sign that someone is trustworthy?
I hope law enforcement looks into this a little more, and doesn't just hand the baby back and tell the mom she's off the hook.

Sirilo-Francisco is still worried about getting deported, but she said she was more concerned about getting their baby back.

She should be worried about deportation. Every single illegal alien residing in the United States should be living in total fear of deportation on a daily basis. Law and punishment are designed to be a deterrent to crime. When written laws, including immigration laws, aren't working, it's normally because enforcement is weak or non-existent.

Ballplayer's wife accused of kidnapping

http://www.nbc-2.com/articles/readartic ... 27465&z=70

PLANT CITY: Pittsburgh Pirates minor league prospect Jose Tabata says he was "shocked" to find out his wife is accused of kidnapping a baby from a Florida couple.

The 20-year-old outfielder said in a statement Wednesday that he is "hurt, frustrated, and confused" by the alleged behavior of his 43-year-old wife, Amalia Tabata Pereira.

Pereira is accused of taking a 2-month-old girl from a woman she met Monday at a public health clinic in Plant City, east of Tampa.

She was arrested Tuesday after turning the baby over to sheriff's deputies near Bradenton, where the Pirates are in spring training.

She has been charged with interference with child custody, kidnapping and false imprisonment.

The Pirates released the following statement:

"The Manatee County Sherriff's Office confirmed with us last night that Jose was in no way involved in his wife's alleged kidnapping of an infant girl. Jose was as shocked as the rest of us upon hearing the news and has cooperated fully with law enforcement officials. The Pirates organization will continue to do anything and everything we can to assist and support Jose during this difficult personal time."

"Due to the nature of this ongoing investigation, we can not discuss any specifics of the case, other than to say that, like Jose, we are extremely thankful the young child was safely returned to her family. Our hearts go out to her and her family for the pain they must have endured during the hours that she was missing."

Second story

Wife of Baseball Player Accused of Baby Snatching

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,510420,00.html

PLANT CITY, Fla. — A 2-month-old is back in the arms of her parents and the wife of a top Pittsburgh Pirates minor league prospect is suspected of taking the infant from a health clinic outside Tampa, authorities said Tuesday.

Amalia Tabata Pereira, 43, was being questioned by Florida detectives in Manatee County, where the girl was found unharmed Tuesday afternoon, a day after she was taken from the clinic. Plant City Chief of Police Bill McDaniel said authorities are looking to charge Pereira with false imprisonment.

She is the wife of Jose Tabata, 20, an outfielder and one of the top three prospects for the Pirates, who train in Bradenton, which is in the county where the infant was found. In a statement, Pirates president Frank Coonelly said they have received "no indication that Jose is believed to have had any involvement in this matter."

Sandra Cruz-Francisco was taken from her mother, Rosa Sirilo-Francisco, about 3 p.m. Monday by a woman her family only knew as 'Janet,' Plant City police said. The mother had taken her baby for a checkup at the Plant City Health Department, where she met Janet, who said she was an immigration official, Sirilo-Francisco told the Tampa Tribune. The woman told Sirilo-Francisco that there were officers at her home waiting to deport her and the child's father to Mexico.

Janet offered to help, but said she had to take the baby.

The two women drove with the infant to a farm where the child's father works and Janet told him the same story, and the mother later handed the child over.

Plant City police Capt. Darrell Wilson couldn't confirm the mother's account of events.

"We believe that may have been the story, but we haven't spoken with the suspect," he said.

Investigators now believe Janet and Pereira are likely the same person. Wilson said Pereira has a criminal record that includes theft and fraud convictions and that police did not have a hometown for her because she has several aliases.

"We don't know if it's an isolated incident or not," he said.
There were conflicting reports regarding exactly how the infant was found.
Plant City police said Pereira turned herself and the baby in to the Manatee County Sheriff's Office early Tuesday afternoon. But authorities in Manatee said Pereira was detained after an anonymous tipster called police to report a woman on a street corner in downtown Bradenton had information about the missing baby.

When deputies responded to the scene, the baby was found and a woman was detained.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said they have launched an investigation. A spokesman wouldn't say whether Pereira worked for the agency, citing the investigation. Wilson, with the Plant City police, said they don't believe she does.