Police seek fugitive and infant girl

Authorities searched Thursday for a fugitive who is believed to have taken his 11-month-old daughter from the North Hollywood home of his estranged wife Wednesday night. The man was already wanted by Pomona police on suspicion of kidnapping, raping and torturing his girlfriend this year.

Los Angeles police initially said Raul Carillo Alderete, 28, was being sought in the alleged kidnapping of his child, Deanna, but later said that because the parents had no custody agreement, Alderete was no longer wanted for taking the baby. But he remains wanted for the assault on his girlfriend, police said.

Alderete was featured last month on “America’s Most Wanted,” which described allegations that he had held his girlfriend captive in Pomona for a week in February, stabbing her more than 30 times. Since that incident, Pomona police said, Alderete has eluded authorities despite being held temporarily in May by police in Tijuana, his hometown.

“He’s been able to stay one step ahead, in and out of different jurisdictions and different countries, limiting contact with family and friends,” said Pomona Police Sgt. Matt Stone. “What’s he going to do with that baby?” Stone asked. “That’s the question. . . . Who knows how desperate he’s getting?”

Stone said Alderete knows he is a wanted man. He returned to the U.S. several times, calling to taunt Pomona detectives, saying, “You’re not going to find me. You’re always a step behind,” Stone said.

His estranged wife, Desiree, 26, told police she and her parents saw him outside their house in the 7500 block of Irvine Avenue on Wednesday night and fled to the back of the house, leaving Deanna in the front. When they returned she was gone. Police said Alderete had forced his way into the house. The couple have two other children together, officers said.

Deanna is 2 feet tall, 28 pounds, with a light complexion and 4-inch-long black hair that was in pigtails at the time her father took her. She was wearing yellow pajamas and pink stud earrings. Her teeth are growing in with a gap in front, and she has a strawberry-colored birthmark on her right hand and a mole on her right cheek.

LAPD officers described Alderete as 5 feet 9 and about 160 pounds. He has brown eyes, short black hair that is combed back and a dark short goatee.

Police said Alderete uses the nickname Weasel and has a tattoo on the back of his head that says “Hecho in Pomona” (hecho is Spanish for “made”). They said he has a second tattoo on the back of his neck that says “Desiree,” a three-dot tattoo next to his right eye and tattoos on his left arm, finger, hand and wrist. He also has a scar on his left eyebrow.

Alderete was last seen wearing a white T-shirt, checkered flannel jacket with red lines, dark bluejeans, white sneakers, and a gold chain on his neck with wedding bands on the chain.

Since 1993, he’s been convicted of assault with a deadly weapon, grand theft and illegal possession of a firearm, according to Pomona Police Det. Jennifer Turpin.

On Feb. 12, Alderete’s girlfriend told Pomona police that he had held her captive in an abandoned apartment while he smoked methamphetamine.

Although she managed to escape, jumping out of a second-story window and seeking treatment at a hospital, Alderete found her and forced her back into captivity for about a week, she told police.

During that time, she said, Alderete raped her with a beer bottle and flashlight and stabbed her with a screwdriver more than 30 times.

“He told the victim that her pain was a rush to him,” Stone said.

Pomona police worked with U.S. Department of Justice officials and Tijuana police to try to arrest Alderete in Mexico.

They were completing paperwork for a cross-border warrant in May when they received a call from Tijuana police who had detained Alderete.

But as Turpin drove to San Diego to arrange Alderete’s extradition five days later, she received another call from Tijuana: A Mexican court had released Alderete.

“There is a warrant out for him in Mexico now, but we couldn’t work fast enough to get everything in order for them,” Turpin said. “We had him, and he was let go with no official answer as to why.”

Anyone with information about Alderete is asked to contact Pomona police at (909) 622-1241.

molly.hennessy-fiske@

latimes.com