| For Immediate Release Case # 10NF3163
|
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
TWO CHARGED FOR ROLE IN KIDNAPPING OF 2 AND 4-YEAR-OLD BROTHERS; A WARRANT HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR THE CHILDREN’S FATHER AND GRANDFATHER
*Law enforcement is seeking the public’s help in locating the two victims and their abductors
FULLERTON – Two defendants have been charged for their role in the kidnapping of 2 and 4-year-old brothers from outside of their Anaheim home. A warrant has been issued for the victims’ father and grandfather, and law enforcement is seeking the public’s help in locating the outstanding fugitives and the children. Abraham Fernandez, 23, Houston, Louis Mendoza Fernandez, 52, Houston, and David Daniel Nicholas, 26, Monrovia, are each charged with two felony counts of kidnapping and two felony counts of child abduction. If convicted, they face a maximum sentence of nine years and eight months in state prison. Abraham and Louis Fernandez have $500,000 warrants for their arrest. Nicholas is being held on $500,000 bail and is expected to be arraigned tomorrow, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2010, at 9:00 a.m. at the North Justice Center, Fullerton. The department is to be determined.
Co-defendant Linda Fernandez, 29, Monrovia, is charged with four felony counts of accessory after the fact and faces a maximum sentence of three years and eight months in state prison if convicted. She is being held on $500,000 bail and is expected to be arraigned tomorrow, Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2010, at 9:00 a.m. at the North Justice Center, Fullerton. The department is to be determined.
Abraham Fernandez has two sons with his former live-in girlfriend, from whom he is estranged. Approximately one year ago, Abraham Fernandez’s former girlfriend moved to Anaheim from Texas with the two boys, 4-year-old John Doe #1 and 2-year-old John Doe #2.
At approximately 7:45 p.m. on Oct. 7, 2010, the two victims were in an alley with their mother near their apartment. Abraham Fernandez and his father Louis Fernandez are accused of driving into the alley in a silver Dodge Caravan and quickly stopping the car. Louis Fernandez, who had been driving, is accused of getting out of the vehicle and grabbing John Doe #1, who was standing next to his mother. Louis Fernandez is accused of putting the victim in the back of the van using the sliding side door.
Abraham Fernandez is accused of then getting out of the van and taking John Doe #2 from his screaming mother’s arms. The defendants are accused of getting back into the vehicle and speeding in reverse out of the alley as they fled the scene. Witnesses called 911 and the Anaheim Police Department responded to the scene. An AMBER Alert was immediately issued for the silver van.
After the kidnapping, the defendants are accused of driving to Monrovia to hide at a relative’s home. Nicholas and his wife Linda Fernandez, Abraham Fernandez’s cousin, are accused of harboring the defendants at their Monrovia home knowing that the children had been illegally abducted and were being sought by police.
Nicholas is also accused of assisting in the child abduction by renting the van for Abraham and Louis Fernandez to use in the kidnapping.