5:20am -- Calif. Amber Alert Ends in N.M. Permalink comment E-mail
By Bruce Daniels   
Thursday, 15 May 2008 22:21
Orange County woman who snatched 10-month-old child caught in Torrance County.

Ida Torres, a 33-year-old woman accused of abducting her three children, including a 10-month-old boy she allegedly snatched from an Orange County, Calif., hospital, was arrested Thursday afternoon in Torrance County, according to KOAT-TV and the Orange County Register .

A statewide amber alert had been issued Wednesday in California after Torres allegedly walked out of the Children's Hospital of Orange County with the 10-month-old boy who was being treated for a viral asthma infection and her 5- and 11-year-old daughters, the Register reported.

California police believed she was headed across the country and were tracking her cell phone calls until they traced her phone to Torrance County and alerted deputies there, according to KOAT-TV.

Deputies waited until she pulled into an Interstate 40 rest stop east of Albuquerque and arrested her there, and the three children were placed in the custody of the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department, Action 7 News reported.

Torrance County Undersheriff Heath White told KOAT that the children were being checked out medically.

According to the Orange County Register, Torres was being held at the Torrance County Detention Center and is awaiting extradition to California where she will face three counts of felony abduction and one felony count of reckless endangerment.

With Torres and her children was her 33-year-old cousin, Joel Torres of Kentucky, who was detained for questioning but wasn't charged as of late Thursday, the Register reported.

Authorities believe Ida Torres was headed for Kentucky where she had been living with her cousin since moving from Orange County in January, the paper said.

Ida Torres reportedly came back last Friday to visit the children, whose father, Aleni Thompson of Fountain Valley, Calif., has primary custody, the Register reported.

Joel Torres reportedly told Orange, Calif., police he didn't think Thompson was taking good care of the children, according to the Register. 

 

 

Last Updated ( Friday, 16 May 2008 02:38 )
 
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