Kidnaped Tot, Mother Reunited; 5 Arrested

A 3-year-old girl was reunited with her mother Friday, less than 24 hours after she was abducted at gunpoint from the driveway of her Westside home by kidnapers who later demanded a ransom of cocaine and cash, police said.

Undercover police officers were involved in telephone negotiations with the kidnapers and set up a ransom payment at a parking lot near the intersection of Western Avenue and Manchester Boulevard in South-Central Los Angeles, said Los Angeles police spokesman Cmdr. William Booth.

Officers arrested three men and a 16-year-old boy when they allegedly attempted to recover the ransom at about 9:30 p.m. Thursday. Police would not say how much cocaine and cash was demanded in return for the child.

The kidnap victim, Porshea Hamilton, was released by a fifth person about midnight on a street in the Firestone district about eight miles from her home, police said. The girl knocked on the door of a neighbor, who notified the authorities.

Porshea had an apple and some milk at the Firestone station of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and was “in a real good mood” after her ordeal, said Deputy Cliff Voyer.

“The child is safe,” Booth said. “The child is in good condition. She was not harmed.”

Police said Porshea was abducted at 8:30 a.m. Thursday as her mother, Gina Hamilton, backed a car out of the driveway of an apartment building on South Dunsmuir Avenue near Pico Boulevard.

Three men, two armed with handguns, approached the car, took the girl and later fled the neighborhood of Spanish-style homes and apartment buildings in a red Mustang, police said.

Later, Hamilton received telephone calls demanding a ransom of cocaine and cash, Booth said.

As the negotiations with kidnapers unfolded Thursday, police officials took the unusual step of requesting that the news media suspend coverage of the crime.

Reporters were urged not to converge on the scene of the abduction or to attempt to contact the girl’s parents. Those who approached the apartment building were asked to leave by uniformed police.

Booth said that after broadcasting some early reports of the kidnaping Thursday morning, most local television and radio stations agreed to cooperate with the request to suspend coverage.

Arrested were Harold Bridges, 27, Tonia Hilt, 21, Donzeal Hill, 20, and Byron Williams, also 20. The identity of the 16-year-old boy was not released because of his age.

The four men were booked for investigation of kidnaping for ransom and held at Parker Center Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail each. The youth was being held without bail at Los Angeles County Central Juvenile Hall.