Van Nuys Boy Found Unharmed in Tijuana; Baby-Sitter in Custody

A 3-year-old boy reported missing from his Van Nuys home was found unharmed Friday in Tijuana after he apparently wandered around the border city’s airport by himself for a night, authorities said.

The boy’s baby-sitter, who allegedly took the boy after a dispute with his mother, was taken into custody on suspicion of kidnaping, Los Angeles police said.

Detectives from Los Angeles went to the Mexican city to unravel the kidnaping but by late Friday had not returned with the suspect, and it was unclear whether they would be allowed to, police said.

Police began to search for Hector Vasquez at 7 p.m. Thursday when his mother, Rosa Lopez, could not find him in their home in the 14700 block of Delano Street, police said.

After a search of the neighborhood failed to find the boy, police interviewed the boy’s live-in baby-sitter, Alicia Lopez, 22, who is not related to the boy’s mother.

Lt. Warren Knowles said the baby-sitter admitted taking the boy earlier in the day, driving him to Tijuana and then coming back. She agreed to accompany detectives back to the airport where she had abandoned the boy.

After arriving in Mexico and contacting local authorities, the boy was found unhurt at the airport shortly after 5 a.m. Friday, police said.

“He had been there all alone, just walking around until they found him,” Lt. Dennis Dunn said.

Alicia Lopez, a Mexican citizen who had been in the United States illegally, was being held by Mexican authorities, who had not decided by Friday evening whether to release her to the Los Angeles detectives.

Knowles said she will face kidnaping charges if she is returned to Los Angeles.

If Mexican authorities decline to release her, she will be prosecuted for the crime there after the LAPD’s foreign prosecution unit files a case with Mexican authorities.

Knowles said the baby-sitter apparently took the boy because of an ongoing dispute with his mother, but the reasons for the dispute were not released.

In the meantime, the boy’s parents and a grandfather drove to Tijuana and were reunited with him Friday afternoon.

It was also unclear if they would be able to return because the family also had been in the United States illegally.