BRONX WOMAN PLEADS GUILTY TO CUSTODIAL INTERFERENCE IN
THE ABDUCTION OF THE 12-YEAR-OLD DAUGHTER OF A NEIGHBOR
Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced today that a 41-year-old woman has pled guilty to one count of Custodial Interference in the 1st degree in the abduction of the twelve-year-old daughter of a neighbor in March 1998.
Acting State Supreme Court Justice Steven Barrett has set sentencing for Tuesday, December 2, 2008 in Part T-60. Under terms of the plea agreement, Betsaida Melendez-Garcia will be sentenced to a term of 1 1/4 to 4 years in prison. However, Melendez Garcia left the courtroom a free woman after pleading guilty since she has already served more than six years in prison in connection with this incident. Melendez-Garcia initially was found guilty of Kidnapping in the 2nd degree and sentenced to 10 - 20 years imprisonment, but that conviction was recently overturned by the New York State Appellate Division which ordered that she be granted a new trial.
In pleading guilty to the reduced charge of Custodial Interference, Melendez-Garcia admitted under oath in open court that she had acted-in-concert with her husband, Pedro Garcia, in abducting the child whom she knew was 12-years-old at the time. Melendez-Garcia, under oath, also admitted to the following facts: That she did lure the child from the lawful custody of her mother, Lillian Rodriguez, while she was on her way home from the store; that she hid the child from her mother in the basement apartment that she shared with her husband, Pedro Garcia; that she did not have permission, authority or consent of the girl’s mother to have the girl live with her or her husband; that she then took the child to San Juan, Puerto Rico in March of 1999 without permission or knowledge of the child’s mother or any legal right to do so.
The abduction occurred on March 24, 1998 when the girl left her apartment to buy a notebook for school assignments. When the victim arrived at the store and found that she did not have enough money for the purchase, she telephoned Melendez-Garcia in an effort to get a message to her mother to come to the store with more money. The child was then lured to the defendants’ apartment after allegedly being told not to worry about the money.
When the girl arrived at the defendants’ apartment, she was detained, tied and taken to the boiler room in the basement, where she was hidden for one year. In March of 1999, the girl was taken to Puerto Rico and left in the care of friends of the defendant. The defendant told the caretakers that the girl was a relative and returned to New York City.
Several months later the abduction came to light when the people in whose care the child had been left, took her to a police station in Carolina, Puerto Rico after a hostile confrontation with Melendez-Garcia’s husband, Pedro Garcia, who had returned to Puerto Rico to attend a funeral. The girl’s caretakers were angry over not receiving any financial support for the child. Once authorities in Puerto Rico learned of the abduction after questioning the child and her caretakers on the Island, she was reunited with her mother.
Kidnapping charges subsequently were filed against Melendez-Garcia and her husband, both of whom were tried and found guilty in absentia after jumping bail during jury selection in August of 2001. The couple was captured in Puerto Rico two months later and returned to the Bronx where they were sentenced to 10 - 20 years in prison.
Pedro Garcia, whose conviction also was overturned by the Appellate Division, pled guilty to a reduced charge of one count of Attempted Kidnapping in the 2nd degree. Garcia was sentenced to a term of 2 1/4 to 4 ½ years in prison. However, since he had already served more than six years in prison in connection with the incident, he did not have to serve any further jail time.
The case is being prosecuted by Senior Trial Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey Glucksman of the Investigations Division.
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