A pair of California infamous accused Abduction of three-month-old baby He was sentenced to prison this week, authorities said.
The accused, 44-year-old Yesenia Guadalupe Ramirez and 29-year-old Jose Roman Portillo, allegedly kidnapped the child, publicly known as Baby Brandon, in April last year. had a child Taken from his family home San Jose and found safe a day later.
Ramirez was sentenced Monday to 13 years and 4 months in prison during a hearing in Santa Clara County Superior Court, and Portillo was sentenced to 5 years, the district attorney’s office announced in a news release. The couple pleaded guilty in August 2022 to eight charges related to the kidnapping, including kidnapping, attempted kidnapping, conspiracy, theft and vehicle tampering. The charges carry a maximum jail term of 16 years and four months.
“While we pushed for the maximum sentence for both defendants, we are pleased that this brings an end to this sad and senseless saga,” Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. “Brandon is safe, and his two kidnappers are safely behind bars.”
Authorities said a police investigation into the abduction revealed that Ramirez and Portillo attempted to abduct Brandon at least four more times before the actual abduction, including one instance in which Portillo posed as a child protective services worker to Portillo, intending to take custody of the child.
When the child was eventually abducted, Brandon was “taken from the care of his grandmother by a mysterious person carrying a car seat,” the district attorney’s office wrote in a Monday announcement. Authorities allege the mystery man was Portillo.
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“She was accompanied by the grandmother’s friend Ramirez, who helped Brandon’s grandmother care for the baby that day,” the office said. “San Jose police recovered the child less than 18 hours after the abduction and arrested two suspects soon after.”
Evidence collected during the police investigation suggested that Ramirez had previously “pretended to be pregnant with his child” to her boyfriend, the district attorney’s office said. He apparently claimed in a conversation with her that occurred in early March 2022, when authorities believe Ramirez “began planning to kidnap Brandon Doe.”
The boyfriend allegedly went to Ramirez’s home on April 23, 2022, just two days before the abduction, and questioned the child, according to the district attorney.
At a hearing last summer, testimony indicated that Ramirez wanted to convince a romantic partner that Brandon was his own child. CBS San Francisco Report Prosecutors argued that Portillo was in love with Ramirez and was an accomplice in her kidnapping plan.
According to CBS San Francisco, additional evidence shows that Ramirez and Portillo planned to kidnap Brandon at a local Walmart on March 28 and again on April 25 the morning of the kidnapping. Both those attempts failed.