3 Men Asking Cash for Smuggling Boy Are Suspected of Kidnaping

Police on Tuesday were searching for three men suspected of kidnaping a 14-year-old Mexican boy and demanding a cash payment for allegedly smuggling him across the U.S. border to the home of relatives here.

Maria and Marina Marin, sisters who share an apartment in the 800 block of South Fairview Avenue, told police that three men showed up at their door around 4:30 p.m., asking for $350 cash in exchange for their 14-year-old nephew, Police Lt. Charles Magdalena said.

When the women could not come up with the money, the three men rejected their offer of $100 and some jewelry and drove off with the boy still in their car.

The nephew, who was not identified because of his age, had somehow made his way across the border from his home in the state of Guerrero, Mexico, Magdalena said.

“We’re looking at this along the lines that it is an illegal alien smuggling,” Magdalena said, adding that police believe the men played a role in smuggling the youth to his aunts’ apartment in the Fairview Villas complex. The women told police they “were not aware of any pending visit by the nephew,” Magdalena said.

Before leaving the apartment complex, the men led the Marin sisters to a car in a parking lot, so they could verify the boy as their nephew. They also continued to demand $350, Magdalena said.

The car, described as a brown, 1979 Plymouth, is registered to a resident of Anaheim, Magdalena said.

The sisters, who could not be reached for comment late Tuesday, were slightly injured when the driver sped away, knocking them to the pavement.