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INDUSTRY -- Deputies responded to a report that a woman was briefly kidnapped, driven just over a mile away and released.
The incident was reported about 4 p.m., Los Angeles County sheriff's Lt. Pete Cacheiro said.
A white woman in her 30s called police to report she was forcefully abducted from the parking lot of the City Lights Cocktail Lounge, 1257 S. Hacienda Blvd., the lieutenant said.
The woman said two Latino men in a full-size Chevrolet pickup truck beckoned her to their vehicle and asked her for directions, Cacheiro said.
As she spoke to the men, they seized her by the hair and forced her into the car, he said.
The woman reported that she was driven to a nearby Chevron gas station on 7th Avenue near the 60 Freeway and released, Cacheiro said. The men apparently made no demands for money or property, and the woman was not injured.
No further details were available.

Also from the Wall Street Journal: 

Authorities said they are trying to connect Phillip Garrido, accused of abducting then 11-year-old Jaycee Dugard in 1991, to two other nearby child kidnappings in the late 1980s.
The police department in Hayward, Calif., said Tuesday that Mr. Garrido is "one of the strongest" of about 13,000 leads in their search for Michaela Garecht, a 9-year-old who was abducted from the Hayward area in 1988. The police department in Dublin, Calif., said Tuesday it is also investigating whether Mr. Garrido is connected with the 1989 disappearance of Dublin resident Ilene Misheloff, then 13, from near her middle school. Both cities are situated within an hour's drive of Antioch, Calif., where Mr. Garrido and his wife Nancy lived.
Both agencies said they acquired search warrants and on Tuesday were scouring Mr. Garrido's property in Antioch, where Ms. Dugard was allegedly held in the backyard for 18 years. Ms. Dugard resurfaced last month and has since been reunited with her family.

From today's story:

The gang rape of an 18-year-old girl in Baldwin Park Monday morning is getting lots of attention from local media this morning. Television trucks are parked outside the Baldwin Park Police Department, but police are saying little.

From the Associated Press:

LOS ANGELES -- An Amber Alert for three states, including California, was issued today for a Las Vegas woman suspected of abducting her four children, according to police and the California Highway Patrol.
  Claire Tourand, 34, failed to show up for a custody meeting with social service officials in Las Vegas, and an arrest warrant was issued earlier today, a Reno, Nev., police officer said.
  A family court judge also issued an order for the return of the children, saying there's an immediate risk of harm to them.
The Amber Alert is in effect in Nevada, California and Arizona, and authorities believe she may be headed to Mexico in a white 1998 Mercury Sable, license plate 369 SDH, said CHP Officer Patrick Kimball.
  The children, Ivan, Jakelyne, Megan and Tyson Mata-Martinez, range in age from 4 to 9, the police officer said.

*PHOTO of Claire Tourand courtesy of the Washoe County Sheriff's Department, Nevada

 

 

MONTEBELLO -- Authorities have released a composite sketch of a man who tried to kidnap an 11-year-old girl Monday before her teenage brother and a friend fought off the attacker.
The incident occurred about 3 p.m. on Marconi Avenue at 16th Street, Montebello police Sgt. Javier Ornelas said.
The suspect was described as a Latino man between 35 and 40 years old, with brown hair and brown eyes. He stood about 5 feet, 10 inches tall, weighed about 250 pounds, was unshaven, and wore a baseball cap and a blue, short-sleeve shirt.
He placed a zip tie around the girl's neck and forced her into the truck of his car, which was described as 2000-2003, silver, 4-door small car with grey interior, officials said.
Anyone with information is asked to call Montebello police detectives at (323) 887-1262, or after hours at (323) 887-1313.

*Drawing courtesy of the Montebello Police Department.

COVINA -- A man tried to kidnap a 17-year-old girl Thursday, and police are asking the public's help in finding the would-be abductor.
The incident occurred about 2:30 p.m. on Arrow Highway between Lark Ellen and Azusa avenues, just north of Gladstone High School, Covina police Lt. John Curley.
The teen was walking with her 2-month-old baby in a stroller on the sidewalk when a man passed by in a white van and whistled at her, the lieutenant said.
The girl continued walking, but the man pulled his van over and ordered her to get inside, he said.
When the girl refused, the man grabbed onto the stroller, but the girl was able to strike him and escape, Curley said.
The failed kidnapper is described as a Latino man in his 50s, about 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighing about 180 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes, Curley said.
He had a silver upper tooth and wore a white shirt and blue pants, he said.
The can was described as a white Chevy Astro van with windows all around, Curley added.
Anyone with information is asked to call Covina police At (626) 858-4413.

POMONA -- A woman escaped from a department of corrections parenting program with her 12-day-old child Saturday, and authorities are seeking the public's help in finding her and the child.
Daphne Delorah Miner, also known as Tanesha Burell, does not legal custody of her son, Sean Garner, Pomona police Officer Paul Monforte said in a written statement.
The 35-year-old woman escaped from a California Department of Corrections parenting program facility located at 831 E. Arrow Highway shortly before 5 p.m., the officer said.
She is believed to have taken the child with her, he said, and is possibly on her way to Los Angeles or Long Beach.
Miner is described as a black woman, about 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighing about 230 pounds, police said.
She has black hair, brown eyes and a scar on her nose, and was last seen wearing yellow, long-sleeve blouse and blue jeans, Monforte said.
Garner is black with brown curly hair and weighs 10 pounds.
Anyone with information is asked to call their local law enforcement agency or the Pomona Police Department Detective Bureau at (909) 620-2124.

*Photo of Daphne Miner courtesy of the Pomona Police Department

Details continue to emerge about the disturbing story of a 4-year-old Dayton, Ohio boy who reported to strangers that his mother had been shot to death after being abandoned by the alleged killer at a rest stop.

A suspect (Charlie Myers, 22, of Columbus, Ohio, pictured left) has been arrested and reportedly confessed to the crime, as reported by the Associated Press:

DAYTON -- The 4-year-old boy's explanation was even more startling than the sight of him, barefoot and clad in pajamas, standing alone in the lobby of a highway rest stop.
Judith McConnell and her husband, Michael, had pulled into the rest stop on Interstate 70 about 50 miles outside of Dayton just after 9 p.m. on Jan. 2.
The boy was by himself, staring out a window. Judith McConnell waved at him as they walked in.
What he said next was chilling: "A man came into my house without knocking and shot my mommy."
The man then left him alone at the rest stop, the boy said.
The couple, driving home to Maryland after Christmas in Colorado, took the boy into their car to warm up and called police.
"He's been abandoned here by a man with a gun," Michael McConnell told police. "He's quite disturbed."
As they waited for deputies to arrive, the boy recited the information his mother had drilled into him -- his address, his parents' names, two phone numbers.
When Montgomery County sheriff's deputies arrived at his family's small white bungalow in Dayton later that night, they found the body of his 29-year-old mother, shot to death.
The woman died after struggling with her attacker, said Sheriff Phil Plummer. The killer also sexually assaulted the boy before taking him to the rest stop and abandoning him, police said.
The Associated Press is not naming the family so as not to identify the victim of an alleged sexual offense.
Police say a man under arrest has confessed to the crimes. Montgomery County Prosecutor Mathias Heck is considering whether to seek the death penalty.

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As if the original story wasn't bad enough, it appears there's more to the tale of the young woman and her baby who were kidnapped and robbed Saturday. (See Bonnie and Clyde blog entry below)

Police said today that not only did the robbers, a man and woman, estimated to be in their 60s, abduct the young woman and her child, drive them to the bank and force the mother to withdraw cash for them, but it appears they also held the child hostage until the woman retrieved jewlery from her home, officials said.

After obtaining the woman's money from the bank, the suspects drove the woman and child to their home, where the kept the child in the vehicle and ordered the woman to fetch valuables from her home, Pasadena police Lt. Chriss Russ said.

When she complied, both the woman and child were set free.

Police described the suspects' vehicle as a red SUV or Jeep.

Here's my notes from an interview with Baldwin Park police Chief Lili Hadsell regarding Wednesday's kidnapping at Union Station. What do you make of the story?

There were two vicims. The case was called in last night between 7:30 and 7:50

they had been at union station where they met.

The female victim was walking to the male victim's car in the US parking lot when she was bumped by a man who was wearing all black clothing --possibly resembling a federal agent.

He forced the couple to drive to the Big Dalton address where a safe with $20,000 and several documents was taken.

THe victims agreed to meet at Union Station. She meets him apparently at his car. SOmeone bumps into her and tells her to getinto the car. He gets inthe back seat and says drive me to your residence. When they arrive all three get out. He has them open the door and says, "close your eyes." He pushes them inside. THe suspect instructs the victims to tell him where the safe is or he will kill them. Apprently he goes into a room there the safe is.

THis is not a random situation. THere is a possibility that the victim knew the suspect.

AFter the suspect fled, the victims opened their eyes, They run to the car and drive to Glendale. The female decided to wait there until her husband got home.

WHen her husband got home he noticed the home had been burglarized and called the police department., We respond. SHe tells the husband what happened.

It is not clear if there is a video monitoring system at Union Station.

THe suspect was described as a male, of unknown race, approximately 55. He was 6'1" and weighed 190 pounds. He had a medium build. He was wearing dark clothing and was clean shaven. The victim has not been asked to put together an identi-kit.

Victim #2 is a resident of GLendale. He requested confidentiality.

"We want the residents fo Los Angeles and Baldwin Park to know that this is not a random kidnapping," hadsell said.

Two people were kidnapped at gunpoint from Union Station in Los Angeles and taken to Baldwin Park where they were robbed, officials said. *

Interestingly enough, even though we knew the kidnapping had taken place when we called Baldwin Park's watch commander this a.m. he said there was nothing going on and the night was quiet.

If this is what passes for a quiet night in Baldwin Park, I'd hate to find out what a busy night is really like:

BALDWIN PARK - Two people who were kidnapped at Union Station were allegedly brought to the 3300 block of Big Dalton Road, where they were beaten and robbed, according to Sgt. Kevin Gauthier of the Baldwin Park Police Department.

Baldwin Park police responded to the overnight incident, but officials had little information this morning.