Transient, 20, Arrested in Boy’s Kidnapping
Police officers arrested a 20-year-old man in Oxnard on Friday on suspicion of kidnapping a 4-year-old boy in Fresno four days ago, authorities said.
Bud Ciarelli was arrested about 5 p.m. at a house in the 100 block of South H Street after officers received a tip that he was there with the boy, Oxnard Police Sgt. Fred Sedillos said.
The boy was in good condition, police said.
Ciarelli was in custody at the Oxnard police station Friday night and was being interviewed by Fresno police.
Officers were alerted that Ciarelli was in Oxnard after he made a collect call Thursday night to his father in Los Angeles from a pay phone at the Oxnard Transportation Center at 4th Street and Oxnard Boulevard, Oxnard Police Sgt. Lee Wilcox said.
Ciarelli, a transient, is the former boyfriend of the boy’s mother. He had been baby-sitting the boy in Fresno when he decided to leave town with him, police said.
Authorities suspect that Ciarelli left Fresno with the boy on Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon and came south to Oxnard, where he used to have relatives, Fresno Police Det. George Von Euw said.
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