Missing Youth Turns Up in Juvenile Hall

A 15-year-old mentally retarded boy who had been the object of a daylong police search this weekend after wandering away from his guardian’s Lake View Terrace home has been found in Sylmar Juvenile Hall, where he had been charged with felony auto theft.

Police arrested Jose Barreros about 6 a.m. Saturday when he was discovered in the 12700 block of Paxton Street seated in a vehicle that had been stolen from a nearby home, said Los Angeles Police Officer Normand Dumais.

It was not until after 11 p.m. that night that police discovered the boy was, in fact, the mentally retarded teen-ager whom they and Explorer Scouts had been searching for throughout the day. The confusion, Dumais said, occurred because the boy gave police a different name when he was arrested.

The boy was described by his guardian, Natividad Ordono, who reported him missing, as having the mental capacity of a 4-year-old.

Witnesses to Arrest

Paxton Street residents who saw a picture of Barreros during an evening newscast called police and identified him as the same person they earlier had seen being arrested, Dumais said. The youth remained in Sylmar Juvenile Hall until Sunday evening.

Ordono, who cares for the boy at the Del Mar Group Home in Los Angeles, said she had taken Barreros to her home for the weekend. “He can’t even read and certainly wouldn’t know how to drive,” she said.

Ordono said she had put the boy and three other children she cares for to bed late Friday night and checked on them at 3 a.m. Saturday. “But when a telephone call woke me up in the morning Jose was gone,” she said.

After searching the neighborhood, Ordono said she called police about 9:30 a.m. to report Barreros missing. Police started searching for him shortly after noon, Dumais said.

A Juvenile Hall spokesman said it will be up to the district attorney to decide today if the felony theft charge will be dropped.