Case # 14NF3914
Date: September 10, 2015
FATHER TO BE ARRAIGNED ON CHARGES OF ABDUCTING AND TAKING 5-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER TO GUATEMALA
FULLERTON, Calif. – A father is expected to be arraigned tomorrow on charges of abducting and taking his 5-year-old daughter to Guatemala. Felipe Alexander Delgado, 23, was charged Sept. 18, 2014, with one felony count of child abduction. If convicted, the defendant faces a maximum sentence of three years in state prison. The defendant was deported back to the United States on Sept. 5, 2015, and is out of custody on $50,000 bail. Delgado is scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow, Sept. 11, 2015, at 8:30 a.m. in Department N-12, North Justice Center, Fullerton.
The defendant and the child’s mother were previously in a romantic relationship and parents to the then 4-year-old girl. At the time of the crime the defendant and the child’s mother, Jane Doe., were not in a romantic relationship and did not have a formal custody agreement.
On the morning of July 26, 2014, Delgado is accused of picking up his daughter, Child Doe, from her mother for a day trip to the beach. Sometime during that day, Delgado is accused of abducting Child Doe by forcing her to travel with him to Guatemala and not telling her mother where he was taking the child.
The next day, Mother Doe attempted to contact Delgado to check in on the child and sent numerous text messages after the defendant did not return her phone calls. After speaking to one of the defendant’s family members, who had not seen the defendant or the child, Mother Doe went to the La Habra Police Department (LHPD) and filed a missing person report. LHPD began investigating this case and found it to be a parental abduction after the defendant is accused of calling Mother Doe from an unlisted number and would not tell her where he and the child were and refused to bring her back.
The defendant had an outstanding warrant for his arrest and was discovered with the child in Guatemala and subsequently arrested by Guatemalan authorities. The child was reunited with her mother on Aug. 28, 2015.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office Child Abduction Unit (CAU) investigates cases of missing children when the suspected abductor is a family member. These complex cases may call for international investigations. The CAU maintains a 100-case workload, with their primary goal being to return missing children to their legal guardian through the enforcement of civil court orders.
Deputy District Attorney Jim Bacin of the CAU is prosecuting this case.