2 Teen-Agers Arrested in Abduction of Infant Girl

An 18-year-old Orange County woman and her 17-year-old brother have been arrested on suspicion of abducting an infant from a Garden Grove day-care center and keeping the child in their home for several hours before the infant was found during a neighborhood search.

But in an interview at the Orange County Jail, Darlene Johnson denied committing any crime and said she had confessed only to protect a relative. She refused to identify that person, adding, “Somebody else (took the child), and I know who it is.”

Garden Grove police, who returned the child to her parents, declined to comment.

Victoria Marie Clark, the 14-month-old daughter of Matthew and Debbie Clark, was taken from the Young Horizons day-care center Thursday afternoon. She was reunited with her parents hours later.

The alleged abduction marked the second time in less than a month in Orange County that a teen-age girl has been accused of stealing a child.

Police arrested Johnson and her brother in their Garden Grove home Thursday evening on suspicion of kidnaping after a neighbor reported seeing Darlene Johnson playing with Victoria. The brother was being held Friday at Orange County Juvenile Hall.

Garden Grove police credited seven Explorer Scouts with helping find the infant. Several hours after the alleged abduction, the Explorers were sent on a house-to-house canvass near the day-care center, knocking on doors and showing people pictures of the missing girl as well as a sketch of a suspect, police said.

At 10:30 p.m., officers said, two of the Explorers came to the door of Linda Brickman, a neighbor who looked at the photos and said she had seen Johnson playing with the missing girl earlier that day. Minutes later, police entered Johnson’s house, found the infant and arrested the girl and her brother, investigator Pam French said.

“They (the Scouts) did an exceptional job. . . . They were instrumental in finding the witness,” French said.