LOS ANGELES—A 26-year-old man considered and armed dangerous has been arrested after allegedly snatching his 23-month-old daughter from her mother’s home in the Echo Park community of Los Angeles, authorities said Dec. 24.
The child was safely recovered.
Leonardo Rosales and another man were spotted at an apartment complex on Pico Canyon Road in Stevenson Ranch, where he was taken into custody, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Santa Clarita Station.
It wasn’t clear when the arrest took place.
Catalina Reyes Canino was seen with her father, Rosales, at about 10:45 p.m. Dec. 23 in the area of South Reno Street and Beverly Boulevard, near the Echo Park community, the California Highway Patrol reported.
Officers responding to a radio call of a “kidnap in progress” in the 100 block of South Reno Street were met by the girl’s mother, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) reported.
She told the LAPD officers that she and Rosales, her ex-boyfriend, had an ongoing child custody dispute and that there was a restraining order on file against him. Police said Rosales has no custodial rights to Canino.
“The mother said Leonardo showed up at her residence with two additional male suspects,” according to an LAPD statement. “Leonardo forced his way into the residence and threatened the family while armed with a knife. He forcibly removed the child and fled in a gray Honda Accord with unknown license plate.”
