Kidnap Victim Rejoins Father in Victorville
A 14-year-old girl abducted twice in the last year by her mother, a San Bernardino woman investigators described as a “semi-homeless transient,” has been reunited with her father in Victorville, authorities said Thursday.
Relying on information provided by a family member, investigators from the San Bernardino County district attorney’s child abduction unit found the teenager Monday in San Bernardino. The girl had been missing since March 14, when she was abducted by her mother, Jamie Marie Hopper, 42.
Hopper was arrested June 5 by San Bernardino police serving an arrest warrant for child abduction at a home on E Street. The girl was spotted by officers inside the home, but Deputy Dist. Atty. John Watterson said the officers were unaware the girl was the kidnapping victim. Since then, Watterson said, the girl had been moving between homes of friends.
“If we did drop the ball, we recovered it quickly,” he said. “This was a great job of beating the bushes by our investigators.”
Hopper pleaded guilty to child abduction June 18 but refused to tell a judge where her daughter was. She was sentenced to a two-year jail term.
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