Sylmar Man Held in Baby’s Abandoning

The father of an 8-month-old girl was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of leaving her with a stranger while he went looking for rock cocaine, police reported. Ray Luna, 27, whose last known address was in Sylmar, was taken into custody at 3:25 a.m. by patrol officers near Parthenia Street and Columbus Avenue where he allegedly abandoned the infant to buy drugs late Sunday night, authorities said.

Luna was arrested on suspicion of felony child endangerment and jailed at the Devonshire Station, Det. Gary Barthelmess of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Devonshire Division said at an afternoon news conference.

Bail was set at $50,000. Because the arrest violated Luna’s parole from a previous conviction, Barthelmess said Luna would remain in custody.

On Tuesday afternoon, the infant, Bianca Luna, was reunited with her mother, Francesca Rosales, and her 3-year-old brother, said Neil B. Rincover, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services. The family is living with Rosales’ parents in West Covina, he said.

The trouble began at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, police said, after Luna took Rosales to her job as a department store clerk in West Covina and then was supposed to drop off Bianca at Rosales’ parents’ home.

Instead, Luna took his daughter with him, allegedly to buy rock cocaine in North Hills, police said. To pay for drugs, Luna told police, he sold his children’s car seats as well as an undetermined amount in food stamps.

With Bianca wrapped in blankets on the back seat of Rosales’ late-model Honda Accord, police said Luna drove to a convenience store in the 9100 block of Sepulveda Boulevard at 11 p.m.

Luna struck up a conversation with a customer in line, police said, and the two got into the car to search for drugs.

Police would not identify the man except to say that he was a street person who lived in the area.

After two hours, the man asked to return to the store, police said. There, Luna allegedly asked the man to watch Bianca for 15 minutes while he continued to look for cocaine. When Luna did not return after 30 minutes, the man called police.

Bianca was examined at Northridge Hospital Medical Center and found to be in good condition. She was placed with the Department of Children and Family Services.

A photograph of Bianca was released to the news media to assist in the search for the baby’s parents.

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Meanwhile, when Rosales discovered that Bianca wasn’t with her grandmother, Rosales filed a missing person’s report with the West Covina Police Department.

In the meantime, a neighbor of Rosales’ parents saw Bianca’s photograph on a news broadcast Monday night and told the grandparents the baby resembled Bianca, police said.

Rosales returned to the West Covina Police Department, police said, where officers confirmed that the abandoned child in North Hills was indeed Bianca.

“This just shows that [Luna’s] desire to obtain drugs was greater than the welfare of his family,” Barthelmess said.

Rosales and the man who called police are unlikely to face any charges, Barthelmess said. The case will be presented to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office later this week, he said.