Thread: Boy Was Kidnapped for Ransom-Manatee County

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/16782403.htm



Wells says boy was kidnapped for ransom
REBECCA BLUE and MAURA POSSLEY
Herald Staff Writers
SAMOSET - Camouflaged sheriff's office SWAT Team members swarmed the home of the alleged kidnapper of 13-year-old Clay Moore just before daybreak this morning.

The suspect, however, was still on the loose.

Manatee County Sheriff's Office investigators did find a truck they believe was used during the boy's abduction Friday.

After dozens of interviews with East Manatee farmworkers and other witnesses, detectives Saturday afternoon began a more than 12-hour stakeout outside the home of 22-year-old Vicente Ignacio Beltran-Moreno.

"This man abducted Clay Moore, we are sure of it," said Sheriff Charlie Wells.

Wells said investigators found a ransom note.

"This was an absolute kidnapping for ransom," Wells said. "This person wanted money in exchange for Clay Moore."

Beltran-Moreno lives with his girlfriend at the house, which is in the 3700 block of 17th Street Court East. Neither was spotted during the stakeout, officials said.

The couple was not home when authorities - armed with an arrest warrant for Beltran-Moreno and a search warrant for the truck, located in the house's attached garage - arrived at 5:15 a.m. in a caravan of vehicles while the neighborhood slept.

In the house's garage, officers found a late model, red extended cab pick-up truck - which matches the description of the vehicle used by the kidnapper.

Authorities pulled the truck from the home shortly before 8 a.m., seeking to match evidence described by the victim.

Meanwhile, detectives were working to secure a search warrant for the rest of the one-story stucco house, located on a corner lot in the Hill Park subdivision across the street from the Bealls distribution center.

Wells said obtaining the warrants took longer than expected due to the suspected kidnapper's multiple aliases. Beltran-Moreno is an undocumented immigrant who at one time was deported from the United States.

Clay was abducted Friday just before 9 a.m. while he waiting for his school bus with 15 other students. The Manatee School of the Arts student was forced at gunpoint into the truck from the stop at the Kingsfield Lakes subdivision in Parrish.

Clay was waiting with about 15 other students when a man pointed a gun and forced him into an older model red pick-up truck.

The abductor drove Clay for about 20 miles to Faulkner Farms off of State Road 64 in Myakka City. He led the boy into a heavily wooded area, where he bound the boy to trees using duct tape and gagged him with one of his own socks.

The man told Clay he would return, before driving from the ranch.

Clay sat for about two hours before using a safety pin to free himself. He stumbled through the rural area until coming upon a farmworker on a tractor, who spoke little English but had a cell phone.

Clay dialed his mother at 1:30 p.m. and told her he was safe.

Deputies traced the boy's call and found him, ending the nightmarish 4½-hour ordeal.

In Beltran-Moreno's relatively empty home early Sunday was a tan couch, older model television set and vacuum cleaner. The bathroom's shower was missing a curtain but still had toiletries.

White and red sheets hung from the windows,
serving as blinds.

Written on a white mailbox at the edge of the home's driveway was "Fam. Beltran."

Detectives believe Beltran-Moreno on Friday drove straight to the house, parking the truck in the garage, after abandoning Clay.

Authorities canvassed the perimeter of the house, searching through a full, tipped-over garbage can. Yellow crime scene tape was wrapped around palm trees surrounding the home.

Did you see his big, new, red truck on the news? So, what did he leave in?

What? the article says it was an older truck...looked pretty new to me!

This is what I didn't understand....

Wells said obtaining the warrants took longer than expected due to the suspected kidnapper's multiple aliases. Beltran-Moreno is an undocumented immigrant who at one time was deported from the United States

If he was a law obbiding American citizen, it would be easier to get the warrants ?