Charges Expected Against ‘Finder’ of Missing Boy

Los Angeles police said Monday they have developed enough information to bring criminal charges in the abduction of a 4-year-old boy against Enrique Palma Lopez, a day laborer who was hailed last month as a hero for “finding” the boy.

Lopez, who was arrested Sunday in San Diego on an unrelated fugitive warrant as he tried to leave the country, is also under investigation for the disappearance and recovery of a 3-year-old boy in the Downtown area, said Lt. Louis Trovato.

Only five weeks ago, Lopez, 31, was declared a hero and received hundreds of dollars from the public after he reported finding 4-year-old Matthew Vera 40 hours after he had vanished from the Downtown Greyhound bus station Dec. 3. The boy was unharmed.

Trovato said Monday that police have spoken to at least four witnesses who saw Lopez with the boy in several locations during the time the child was missing. In one instance, witnesses told police the two were seen in a food line at a homeless shelter in Santa Monica.

Lopez, who identified himself to police at the time as Jose Jimenez, told detectives that the first time he saw the child was when he found him Dec. 5 at the corner of Broadway and 6th Street Downtown.

“It appears that we have enough on him to file unlawful detention charges,” possibly as early as today, Trovato said. Kidnaping charges cannot be filed against Lopez because there are no witnesses who saw him forcefully take the child, he said.

Detectives will meet with officials in the district attorney’s office this morning to determine which charges should be filed, Trovato said. If convicted of unlawful detention, Lopez could face a maximum of four years in prison, he said.

Matthew’s mother, Rosa Sanchez, said Monday she had become suspicious of Lopez ever since it was reported that he found 3-year-old Andrew Rodriguez on Jan. 3, nine days after the child disappeared from a Downtown video arcade. A medical examination showed that Andrew, like Matthew, had not been sexually molested or otherwise harmed.

“It’s weird that the same person would find two kids,” Sanchez said Monday. “But right now I cannot say he is guilty. I can’t accuse him of anything.”

The boy’s aunt, Carmen Sanchez, said the family had shown Matthew pictures of Lopez and that he had referred to him as “El Patito,” the mysterious figure who Matthew earlier said had bathed and fed him and took him to the beach.

“We showed him pictures (of Lopez) and asked him: ‘Is that El Patito?’ And he would say, ‘Yes, yes,”’ Carmen Sanchez said. Lopez has told police he is not El Patito.

Detectives interviewed Matthew again Monday for any details that might help them in the case, but Trovato said he did not know if the boy had identified Lopez as El Patito. He said police would continue to interview both children for clues about the circumstances surrounding their disappearance.

“But neither child is real articulate,” he said. “They have problems with concepts of time and place.”

In Andrew’s case, Trovato said police have been unable to locate any witnesses who may have seen Lopez with the boy during the nine days he was missing.

Trovato said police did not know what Lopez’s motive may have been for taking either child, except that Lopez had received money after recovering Matthew “and perhaps he thought he could get money a second time.”

An extradition hearing is scheduled this week for Lopez in connection with the arrest warrant issued by Alaskan authorities. But Trovato said if charges are filed against Lopez in Los Angeles, the case here would take precedence. Also, he said that the Immigration and Naturalization Service has requested that Lopez, who is being held at the Parker Center jail, continue to be held until it completes its investigation into his activities.

Lopez was arrested about 3 p.m. Sunday in San Diego after attempting to cross the border on a passenger bus, Trovato said. Border Patrol agents were questioning Lopez about his immigration status when they discovered that a warrant had been issued for his arrest by authorities in Juneau, Trovato said.

Lopez was convicted there in 1989 on a charge of petty theft, and while in custody, for attempted bribery of a police officer and for attempting to take a gun from a police officer, Trovato said. Lopez had served time for the last conviction, but an arrest warrant was issued because he violated terms of his probation, Trovato said.

Police did not learn about the arrest warrant earlier because it had been filed under the name Enrique Lopez Palma, Trovato said. Lopez’s use of a number of aliases has hampered their investigation, he said.