Police: 2 Men Offered To Buy 2-Year-Old Boy In Covina For $100
COVINA (CBSLA.com) — Police say two men are wanted for offering a woman $100 for her 2-year-old son as they shopped at a Covina market.
A 34-year-old woman told police she and her son were shopping at Baja Ranch Market, 425 S. Citrus, about 6:30 p.m. Wednesday when a man made several complimentary statements about how beautiful she and her son were, Covina police spokesman Sgt. Gregg Peterson said.
The suspect asked the woman if she wanted to sell her son, and when she said no, he continued with the compliment, but they were focused solely on her son, Peterson said.
When she finished checking out, the woman told police she waited inside the store for the man to leave the market. After several minutes, the woman walked with her son to her vehicle to find the man parked next to her with another man in the passenger's seat.
According to Peterson, the suspect, who was sitting in the driver's seat, said: "Oh look, it's you! It's both of you. You're so beautiful."
The woman told the man to leave them alone and he got out of his car and approached her, taking a $100 bill from his pocket and asked, "Can I buy your son?" according to police.
The man, still holding the $100 bill, said, "Go ahead and take it. Just take it," according to police, and the passenger told the woman, "just take the money."
Thursday evening, Covina Police released security video of the two suspects in an attempt to identify then.
Peterson told KCAL9's Peter Daut he's never heard of such a crime.
"In 25 years of being a police officer, I've never heard of someone approaching someone and offering to purchase a kid," he said.
Peterson said the woman became so scared the man was going to try to kidnap her son, she could not scream or yell for help.
The woman said the men insisted she keep the $100 and dropped it in her shopping cart before driving away.
The first suspect was described a Latino about 45 years old, 5-foot-8, 200 pounds, wearing blue jeans and a brown button-down shirt. His passenger was described as a black man in his 50s, about 6 feet tall, 215 pounds, wearing tan slacks and a long-sleeved shirt. Their vehicle was described as a champagne-colored Honda Pilot.
Covina Police told Daut when the suspects are apprehended they face possible human trafficking charges.
Anyone with information about the identities of the two men is asked to contact the Covina Police Department Detective Bureau at (626) 384-5612 about case #15-120.
