Modesto man accused of kidnapping toddler from front yard
The Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office said multiple 911 calls were made Friday morning near Bret Harte Elementary School in Modesto, involving the same suspect and children. Sgt. Erich Layton with the sheriff’s office said it first started about 7 am when someone reported a male in a gray sedan was offering children at a bus stop rides to school. The suspect was gone by the time deputies arrived.He said at 9:40 am, deputies received a call about a male in a gray sedan breaking windows at a home in the 1100 block of Lassen Avenue. Again, when deputies arrived, the man was no longer in the area. A resident of the home identified the man as Jose Gama Mendoza, the ex-husband of someone else who lives at the house.Layton said while investigating the Lassen incident, a separate 911 call came in regarding a man driving a gray sedan that took a child from a front yard on Imperial Avenue. When deputies got to the scene, the man was gone, but the child was found safe with neighbors.”Witnesses stated when the man got there, they saw him reach over the fence line where the 3 or 4-year-old Hispanic boy was at and picked him up and carried him away from the area,” Layton said. He said Mendoza, 36, then placed the boy in the bed of a neighbor’s pickup truck and took off in his gray sedan well before deputies arrived. All of the incidents took place within a couple of blocks of Bret Harte Elementary School.Parents picking up their kids after school were on-edge and nervous. “It’s scary. I can’t imagine someone taking my kid and finding out later my daughter is missing,” said Aurora Chavez. “Who does that? It has to be a really sick person to do that.”Fortunately, the boy was not injured and none of the children at the bus stop accepted a ride from the suspect. A Modesto police officer spotted the suspect and his car downtown shortly after the kidnapping and took him into custody without incident.Mendoza was booked at the Stanislaus County Jail for vandalism and attempted home invasion for the Lassen incident. He is also facing charges of kidnapping for what occurred on Imperial.
MODESTO, Calif. —
The Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office said multiple 911 calls were made Friday morning near Bret Harte Elementary School in Modesto, involving the same suspect and children.
Sgt. Erich Layton with the sheriff’s office said it first started about 7 am when someone reported a male in a gray sedan was offering children at a bus stop rides to school. The suspect was gone by the time deputies arrived.
He said at 9:40 am, deputies received a call about a male in a gray sedan breaking windows at a home in the 1100 block of Lassen Avenue. Again, when deputies arrived, the man was no longer in the area. A resident of the home identified the man as Jose Gama Mendoza, the ex-husband of someone else who lives at the house.
Layton said while investigating the Lassen incident, a separate 911 call came in regarding a man driving a gray sedan that took a child from a front yard on Imperial Avenue. When deputies got to the scene, the man was gone, but the child was found safe with neighbors.
“Witnesses stated when the man got there, they saw him reach over the fence line where the 3 or 4-year-old Hispanic boy was at and picked him up and carried him away from the area,” Layton said.
He said Mendoza, 36, then placed the boy in the bed of a neighbor’s pickup truck and took off in his gray sedan well before deputies arrived.
All of the incidents took place within a couple of blocks of Bret Harte Elementary School.
Parents picking up their kids after school were on-edge and nervous.
“It’s scary. I can’t imagine someone taking my kid and finding out later my daughter is missing,” said Aurora Chavez. “Who does that? It has to be a really sick person to do that.”
Fortunately, the boy was not injured and none of the children at the bus stop accepted a ride from the suspect.
A Modesto police officer spotted the suspect and his car downtown shortly after the kidnapping and took him into custody without incident.
Mendoza was booked at the Stanislaus County Jail for vandalism and attempted home invasion for the Lassen incident. He is also facing charges of kidnapping for what occurred on Imperial.