BajaNomad

Four arrested, charged with child trafficking

Anonymous - 11-20-2005 at 08:41 AM

http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/miami/15831.html

November 20, 2005

TIJUANA -- Four people including a U.S. citizen and a legal permanent resident of the United States have been arrested in this Mexican border city and charged with child selling after two of them offered US5,000 to a father in exchange for his 3-year-old son, police said Saturday.

Jos? Luis Garc?a told authorities he was walking with his son on Octava street in downtown Tijuana on Friday when he was approached by a couple who said they wanted to purchase the youngster, who would then be sent to the United States by a couple who ran a child-selling ring, according to Tijuana police commander Genaro Carrillo.

In addition to cash, the couple offered to pay one year's rent for Garc?a. During the exchange, Garc?a flagged down a police cruiser and two municipal officers arrested the pair who had offered to purchase the child, Carrillo said.

Police identified the arrested couple as Jos? Luis Almaguer and Ana Isabel Acosta, both apparently Mexican citizens.

During subsequent interrogations, the suspects named a U.S. couple. The pair were captured in Tijuana, a few blocks away from the site of the attempted child sale, Carrillo said.

Police identified the arrested U.S. citizen as David Rivera, whose name was confirmed by Liza Davis, a spokeswoman for the American consulate in Tijuana, across the U.S. border from San Diego.

Arrested with Rivera was Sinai Higuera, police said. Davis said Higuera was a U.S. permanent resident, but that she could not confirm her name.