Kidnapped Baby Found; Woman, 22, Is Arrested

A woman suspected of posing as a hospital volunteer and kidnapping a week-old baby was arrested Tuesday and the infant, who was found in good condition, was returned to her parents.

Maria Guadalupe Ramos, 22, was booked on suspicion of kidnapping and held on $500,000 bail.

The parents, Roberto and Fabiola Arciga, said the past 24 hours had been the worst of their lives.

But the mother, who cradled her baby at a Tuesday afternoon news conference, said she never gave up hope that she would see daughter Cindy again.

“No, never. I had faith all the way,” Fabiola Arciga said.

The abduction Monday was captured on surveillance videotape, which was broadcast on local news shows. The videotape, authorities said, led to the suspect’s arrest.

In fact, Maria Guadalupe Ramos called the parents Tuesday, a sheriff’s deputy said, and told them she would return the baby if the television stations would stop broadcasting her picture.

“I asked her if the baby was OK,” the child’s mother said. “She said she fed the baby and gave her new clothes.”

The couple, however, was not able to persuade the suspect to immediately return the baby.Then, later Tuesday morning, the Sheriff’s Department received information that the suspect might be at a warehouse-style grocery store in Lynwood. But when detectives arrived, they could not find the woman.

“While at that location, detectives obtained an address in Lynwood where they learned the suspect and the baby might be,” said Deputy Jim Hellmold.

Detectives went to the location, six blocks from the store, and found the suspect and the baby. Detectives still do not know the motive for the kidnapping.

Ramos’ live-in boyfriend, David Viscara Mendoza, 25, was arrested on suspicion of being an accessory after the kidnapping and was also being held on $500,000 bail, authorities said.

Ramos first contacted the parents Monday afternoon at their Compton home and told them she was a volunteer from Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Bellflower, deputies said. She offered to help the couple obtain coupons for food and milk and a crib for the baby, who was born last week at Doctors Hospital in East Los Angeles.

Ramos then went to the couple’s home and they all headed to the hospital in the family’s car.

At the hospital, Ramos told the father to move his car to the front entrance so that it would be easier to load the crib. Ramos then told the mother that she wanted to briefly show the baby to some friends in the hospital.

The mother stayed in the waiting room while Ramos left with the baby. She never returned.

“Getting a videotape like this doesn’t happen too often,” said Deputy Bob Kileen. “We had a real good shot of the suspect. We were very fortunate on this one.”