Police Say They Are Closer to Finding Missing Boy, 3

Los Angeles Police Department officials said Thursday that they are getting closer to finding Pasadena Police Sgt. Paul Gales’ son.

Authorities said they believe 3-year-old Paul Gales, Jr. was abducted by his mother, Loistine Drake, on Valentine’s Day during a monitored visit at the Los Angeles Zoo. Drake is being investigated by the LAPD for violation of a court order that mandates all contact with her son be monitored.

“We’re getting some clues that she may try to contact us,” said LAPD Det. Robert Pulley. “We’re expecting to see something [this] morning.”

A teary Gales said he has spent many sleepless nights worrying about his son’s safety.

“I don’t know that he is safe,” Gales said. “I don’t know that.

A former Pasadena police officer, Drake was fired Sept. 20, 1995 for excessive unexcused absences, Pasadena Police Cmdr. Mary Schander said.

Drake filed a sexual harassment case against Gales, which was dismissed in court, and lost a custody battle to Gales. Drake was allowed to see her son during six-hour monitored weekly visits, to which she usually brought her friend, Elaine Medina, said Joe C. Hopkins, Gales’ attorney.

On the day Paul Gales Jr. disappeared, Medina drove Drake, the boy and child visitation monitor Renee Foster to the zoo, Foster said in a statement filed Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

“Medina’s car was full of baggage,” Foster recalled. And Drake “had with her a large sum of money.”

Foster said the group was in a zoo restroom when Drake left with her son, saying she was going to buy the boy some milk.