Feds help coordinate rescue of a kidnapped 4-year-old child

San Diego, CA–Federal authorities rescued a 4-year-old who was kidnaped by his mother in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department reported.

The U.S. Border Patrol San Diego Sector’s Foreign Operations Branch coordinated with the government of Mexico to rescue the child from an East Los Angeles location.

On May 5, Sheriff’s deputies contacted San Diego Sector’s Foreign Operations Branch for assistance in recovering the child.  FOB initiated contact with their GOM counterparts. The Instituto Nacional de Migracion and the Guardia Estatal de Seguridad e Investigación conducted surveillance patrols at transportation hubs and in the city streets in Tijuana, Mexico.

After weeks of investigative work by GoM, the child and mother were located and taken into custody in Tijuana. Foreign Operations Branch then coordinated with the Border Patrol Office of Field Operations, Instituto Nacional de Migracion, and Guardia Estatal de Seguridad e Investigación to turn them over to Sheriff’s deputies at the San Ysidro Port of Entry and return the child to his legal guardians.

“This is a prime example of the binational coordination and cooperation between the Government of Mexico and our agency,” said U.S. Border Patrol San Diego Sector Chief Patrol Agent Aaron Heitke, “As a result of this joint effort, this child has been safely returned home.”