1-Year-Old Boy In Backseat Of Minivan Stolen In Montebello Found Safe
MONTEBELLO (CBSLA.com) — A 1-year-old boy kidnapped from a recycling center in his mother's minivan Thursday afternoon was found hours later apparently unharmed, and was reunited with his mother.
Caleb Castro and his two sisters, ages 4 and 6, were inside a red Honda Odyssey parked at SA Recycling, 1545 Gage Road, at about 3 p.m. today when a man ordered the two girls out and drove away with the boy still inside, the Montebello Police Department said.
The children's mother, intending to recycle some items, had left the keys in the vehicle and stepped about 10 feet from the minivan, police said.
An Amber Alert was issued, and just before 7 p.m. someone reported the van was parked in the rear of a McDonald's parking lot at 9333 W. Slauson Ave. in Pico Rivera, police said.
Police found the minivan, with Caleb inside, and reunited the boy with his mother.
The boy appeared unharmed but was taken to a local hospital to be examined.
The suspect was described as a Spanish-speaking Hispanic man who is about 30 years old, with spiked hair.
He was still at-large Thursday night.
At a news conference outside the hospital where the boy was examined, the child's relieved mother, Maria Castro, told reporters she feels blessed that Caleb was not harmed.
"I feel happy," she said. "I feel blessed, because he's OK."
Holding Caleb in her arms as she spoke, Castro admitted she erred in leaving the keys in the vehicle with her kids, but asked that people refrain from judging her.
"We all make mistakes in different ways," she said.
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