Mother of Missing Pomona Toddler Arrested

As the search for a missing 3-year-old girl continued Monday, police arrested the child’s mother and the woman’s live-in boyfriend on suspicion of child endangerment after authorities discovered that the family lived in unsafe conditions in a commercial building.

Simona Demery, 19, and Jeffrey Jones, 24, both Pomona residents, were taken into custody Monday, said Pomona Police Sgt. Jerry Wright.

Investigators found that Demery, who is pregnant, lived with Jones and twin 3-year-olds in the 800 block of West Holt Avenue, a neighborhood dominated by businesses, said Sgt. Joann M. Crabb. Demery and Jones, both unemployed, paid rent to live there, Crabb said.

“It’s unfit to live in,” said Crabb. “There were unsafe conditions for the kids.”

Crabb declined to elaborate on those conditions.

Wright said, “The course of the investigation led detectives to believe the children were endangered.” The missing child’s twin sister was placed in protective custody, he said.

Alicia Versluis disappeared about 12:20 p.m. Sunday from the popular 5-acre Ganesha Park, several miles from the building that was her home. She was last seen playing near the picnic area south of the pool, police said. The mother told police she looked away from Alicia for a few moments to read, and then realized her daughter had disappeared.

Police do not believe that Jones, the live-in boyfriend, was in the park at the time of the child’s disappearance, said Crabb.

Police searched the area Sunday with an Ontario police helicopter, Sheriff’s Department bloodhounds and a San Dimas search and rescue team. On Monday, they were checking the flood channel from Pomona to Whittier Narrows, sifting through the park’s trash bins and double-checking previously searched areas in the park.

Police did not initially suspect foul play because witnesses came forward who said they had seen the child, crying, in the park. It is now uncertain whether those witnesses had seen Alicia or her twin sister, Wright said. By Monday evening, Crabb said, police concluded that no witnesses had seen both children in the park.

Wright said even basic information about the case was at first unclear. While Demery gave police one home address, family members supplied two other Pomona addresses. Later Monday, police determined that the family’s actual address was the commercial building.

Police said Demery and Jones gave varying accounts of events. “There are concerns about the information the mother is giving; we’re trying to see if we can confirm her statements,” said Crabb, who declined to reveal the nature of the inconsistencies.

Demery has no known record of arrests, Crabb said.

The child’s biological father, who lives in Utah, was unable to come to Pomona but had expressed concern, Crabb said.

The missing child is African American, about 2 feet tall and 23 pounds. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She was wearing a gray sweatshirt, gray sweatpants, a white T-shirt and pink and white Nike tennis shoes.

Anyone with information is asked to call Pomona police at (909) 620-2155.