A woman who faced charges after taking her 18-month-old son has been found south of the border with the boy, officials said.
Brigette Benitez, 31, allegedly took Miguel Eduardo Zuniga Medina Jr., to Mexico after she failed to return him to his legal guardian following a Feb. 6 unsupervised visit in the city of Walnut, the FBI reported.
According to the agency, investigators established that Benitez used the Otay Mesa Port of Entry the same day to cross the border.
She was found in the Aguascaliente region and is now in the custody of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The boy has been placed with a foster family.
“Miguel appeared to be safe and healthy,” upon his April 5 return to the custody of the Department of Child and Family Services in Los Angeles County, the FBI said in a statement.
A federal arrest warrant for the woman was obtained on March 7, after she was charged with international parental kidnapping in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.
The criminal complaint alleges that Benitez intentionally obstructed DCFS, which “holds legal and physical custody of Medina, Jr.,” the FBI reported.
Benitez appeared to be trying to reunite with Miguel Eduardo Zuniga Medina Sr., the boy’s non-custodial father who was believed to be living in Aguascalientes, the FBI said.
Medina Sr. was arrested last year for an alleged domestic violence incident, “and has a history of engaging in violent altercations in the presence of children, according to a Juvenile Dependency Petition filed in Los Angeles County.”
Following the arrest, DCFS took custody of the child, the FBI said, “for his own health, safety and well-being.”
Zuniga Medina Sr. has been charged in L.A. Superior Court, and the case is being investigated by the FBI, L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol and the U.S. Marshals Service.
– City News Service