Police Identify Suspects in Kidnapping of Three-Year-Old

By Sarah Harper

Published on May 21, 2009

Police identified two men they suspect kidnapped three-year-old Briant Rodriguez earlier this month. The suspects, Liberato Vega, 30, and Israel Moreno, 28, are Mexico-born illegal immigrants who have been previously deported from the United States. Both have criminal records in the United States for burglary, DUI, and other crimes.

On May 3, the kidnappers broke into the Rodriguez's San Bernardino, California home, bound Briant's family members with tape, ransacked the house, and abducted Briant at gunpoint. Thirteen days later, police found Briant wandering the streets of Mexicali. On Saturday, authorities returned the child to his parents in Calexico, where he was hospitalized.

The crime appears to have been well planned. Just before the kidnapping, a Calexico home-improvement store surveillance video captured two men buying tape similar to the tape used in the kidnapping. Police believe the family knew the kidnappers somehow - a possible motive for the crime - although the family denies any association.

Police are hunting for Vega and Moreno and have issued no-bail warrants for both men (for home invasion robbery, kidnapping, and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution).

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