Amalia Tabata Pereira, 43, is being held at the Hillsborough County Orient Road Jail in lieu of a $750,000 bond. According to law enforcement officials, the woman posed as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer earlier this week when she approached a 20-year-old Venezuelan woman, Rosario Sirilo-Francisco, at the health department building in Plant City.
According to Sirilo-Francisco, Pereira explained that the woman needed to hand over her two month old child and that she would help Sirilo-Francisco and the baby's father, Andres Cruz, avoid deportation to Mexcio if she complied. Afraid, Sirilo-Francisco gave into Pereira's demand. She contacted police in a matter of hours, after she began to suspect that the encounter was a kidnapping ruse and that the woman's only intention was to keep her baby, Sandra Cruz-Francisco. Sirilo-Francisco had taken the infant to the health department for a check-up.
Police issued an Amber Alert, activating the missing child alert system named for Amber Hagerdorn, a Texas girl who was kidnapped and killed in 1995. A day after Sandra was taken, however, Pereira turned the child in herself. As a result, she faces charges for impersonating a social services worker, false imprisonment, and interference with child custody. Previously, she was convicted of arson and other crimes that fueled a gambling addiction several years ago. She served time in a Florida prison. Currently, investigators are working to corroborate Pereira's presence at the scene and examining video surveillance of locations both Pereira and Sirilo-Francisco went the day the baby was abducted. Unfortunately, the health department does not maintain interior surveillance cameras.
Pereira is married to Jose Tabata, a minor league baseball player on the Pittsburgh Pirates. She has retained a criminal defense attorney. ICE officials are investigating both the claim that Pereira impersonated and officer and that Sirilo-Francisco and Andres Cruz are undocumented.
If you have been charged with a crime in Florida, contact the Tampa criminal attorneys at Musca Law as soon as possible to discuss the best defense possible for your case.
According to Sirilo-Francisco, Pereira explained that the woman needed to hand over her two month old child and that she would help Sirilo-Francisco and the baby's father, Andres Cruz, avoid deportation to Mexcio if she complied. Afraid, Sirilo-Francisco gave into Pereira's demand. She contacted police in a matter of hours, after she began to suspect that the encounter was a kidnapping ruse and that the woman's only intention was to keep her baby, Sandra Cruz-Francisco. Sirilo-Francisco had taken the infant to the health department for a check-up.
Police issued an Amber Alert, activating the missing child alert system named for Amber Hagerdorn, a Texas girl who was kidnapped and killed in 1995. A day after Sandra was taken, however, Pereira turned the child in herself. As a result, she faces charges for impersonating a social services worker, false imprisonment, and interference with child custody. Previously, she was convicted of arson and other crimes that fueled a gambling addiction several years ago. She served time in a Florida prison. Currently, investigators are working to corroborate Pereira's presence at the scene and examining video surveillance of locations both Pereira and Sirilo-Francisco went the day the baby was abducted. Unfortunately, the health department does not maintain interior surveillance cameras.
Pereira is married to Jose Tabata, a minor league baseball player on the Pittsburgh Pirates. She has retained a criminal defense attorney. ICE officials are investigating both the claim that Pereira impersonated and officer and that Sirilo-Francisco and Andres Cruz are undocumented.
If you have been charged with a crime in Florida, contact the Tampa criminal attorneys at Musca Law as soon as possible to discuss the best defense possible for your case.
