Alleged Alien Smugglers Kidnap 2 Children

A couple allegedly kidnaped two children on a Los Angeles street corner Sunday when their mother failed to come up with the money she owed them for smuggling the two across the Mexican border, police said.

Officers said the unidentified man and woman snatched 9-year-old Nasario Morales and his 11-year-old sister, Maria, at about 10:30 a.m. from the corner of 23rd and Los Angeles streets.

“This is basically a coyote caper,” Officer Richard Monfils said, referring to the term often used to describe alien smugglers. “They brought the kids in from Mexico, they didn’t get paid, and so they snatched the kids.”

Monfils said advisories have been issued to the Border Patrol, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and to law enforcement officials throughout Los Angeles and San Diego counties.

The children’s mother, Ernestina Cruz Bautista, apparently owed the couple about $500 for smuggling the children into the country two days ago, Monfils said.

She went to the street corner Sunday morning to meet with the couple, who upon learning that she did not have the payment, snatched the children when she was not looking.

The kidnapers fled with the children in an older model orange Chevrolet van, Monfils said. The officer said the van is windowless on its right side and has a green primer spot near its rear license plate. A possible plate number is 448 DJR.

The children, who have brown hair and eyes, were both wearing jeans and black slip-on shoes, Monfils said.

Nasario, described as 3 feet, 11 inches tall and weighing 90 pounds, was wearing a a blue pullover shirt, while his sister, who is 4 feet, 6 inches and weighs 100 pounds, had on a blue and orange print, short-sleeved flowered shirt. She wears her hair in a ponytail.