Police Seek ‘Avon Lady’ in Kidnaping of 6-Month-Old Girl : Abduction: Woman claiming to be sales representative befriends infant’s mother, then takes off with the child.

A woman claiming to be a neighborhood Avon Lady gained the confidence of a Highland Park woman over several visits and then abducted her 6-month-old daughter when the mother left home for a trip to a nearby market, Los Angeles police said Saturday.

Jessica Flores was kidnaped about 6 p.m. Friday, setting off an around-the-clock police search, said Lt. Raul Vega, commander of detectives at the Los Angeles Police Department’s Northeast Division.

“The mother has only known her a month, and knows her only as the Avon Lady,” Vega said. “It’s taken its toll on her. The mother is very distraught.”

Police on Saturday issued a composite sketch of the woman. Police described her as a Latina, age 35 to 40, weighing 140 pounds with black hair and blotches on her cheeks. She speaks English and Spanish, police said, and was wearing yellow sandals and a white skirt with black polka dots when neighbors saw her walking away with the baby. The baby was wearing a white tank top and diaper.

Early Saturday, the mother received a call from the woman, who talked of wanting to return the baby, police said. But, by late evening, the abductor had not done so, and it remained unclear whether the woman would follow through, Officer Sanford Goldstyn said.

Police do not know where the woman was calling from, said Goldstyn, who declined to release further information about the call.

The mother, Martina Lara, 32, speaks only Spanish and made emotional pleas on Spanish-language radio and television stations asking the woman to return her baby.

“We’re having no luck at all,” Vega said. “We’re doing everything we can to get the child back--the sooner the better. Hopefully, someone in the community can help us.”

Authorities said they have no reason to believe the baby has been taken from the area. “But there is always that fear,” Vega said.

Elaine Benvenuto, of the New York-based Avon Products Inc., said company officials are working with police to determine if the woman was among 8,000 Avon Ladies in Los Angeles or a “sub-seller” who sells Avon products through a representative. Copies of the composite sketch will be posted at 22 Avon district sales offices in the area, Benvenuto said.

Lara was leaving her home in the 400 block of North Avenue 50 when she stopped on her porch briefly to speak with the woman, authorities said. Lara left the infant with a man and woman who shared the house. When they left the room for a few seconds, Vega said, the kidnaper went inside and grabbed the baby off a couch.

Anyone with information is asked to call police at (213) 485-5381.