Children Call 911 to Say They Are Hungry, Alone

Santa came early for two children in South Oxnard, after they called 911 to complain of being hungry and alone.

The potentially tragic “Home Alone” situation had a happy ending when the two officers who responded to the call ended up providing the family with a Christmas tree, toys and donated food.

Shortly before 11 a.m. Tuesday, 6-year-old Michelle Fernando and her brother, Michael Fernando, 8, made the emergency call.

When Officers Felice Epps and Sharon Gerding arrived, they found an empty refrigerator.

“The kids were upset and they just didn’t have anything,” Epps said Wednesday. “The 6-year-old said she hadn’t eaten since a day earlier.”

The officers telephoned the children’s father, Conrado Alcayaga, at his job at a Camarillo insulation company and told him to come home. The officers then called the Public Social Services Agency.

After Alcayaga arrived, he explained that he was a single father who was struggling to afford food and child care. The family emigrated from the Philippines three years ago.

His children, Alcayaga said, had learned to dial 911 from their grandfather, who lives in San Diego.

Alcayaga “wasn’t aware of the services that are available,” Epps said.

Alcayaga, 39, was given a misdemeanor citation and told to appear in court next month. He was also given phone numbers for available county services, such as medical and child care.

After Epps and Gerding left the home, they decided to go shopping.

The Oxnard Peace Officers Assn. donated a Douglas fir and colored lights. Epps and Gerding used their own money to buy ornaments.

The officers then went to the Centerpointe Mall, where mall General Manager Pat Farrell heard the story and called merchants, who donated two turkeys and several stuffed animals.