Press release: People v Roland Aleman Torres, September 11, 2001

Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully announced today that 32-year-old Roland Aleman Torres was sentenced today by Judge Jane Ure to 3 years in State Prison, following his conviction for Parental Child Abduction. Findings of aggravation were found to exist in the case, since defendant Torres secreted the child out of the United States and the child became extremely ill while concealed in Mexico. Restitution in the sum of $2,230.85 payable to the District Attorney's Parental Child Abduction Unit were ordered for the costs incurred in recovering the child.

Deputy District Attorney Alfonso Cedillo indicated that defendant Torres, while on parole, forcibly took his then 18-month-old son from the care and custody of the child's mother in April of 1999. The California Department of Corrections, the Sacramento Police Department and the District Attorney's Child Abduction Unit launched a coordinated manhunt for the capture of defendant Torres. Defendant Torres ended up fleeing to Mazatlan Mexico where he was subsequently arrested for committing offenses of robbery and carjacking in that city. Through the cooperatives efforts of the California Department of Corrections, FBI, Mexican Authorities and the District Attorney's Child Abduction Unit, the child was located and returned to the mother's custody in November of 1999.

In January of 2001, defendant Torres was deported from Mexico and taken into custody in Phoenix, Arizona by U S Customs officials and the FBI. In addition to the abduction charges, defendant Torres faced a violation of parole charge.