Liberato Vega, 30 and Israel Moreno, 28 (May 18, 2009)
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SAN BERNARDINO -- Investigators have announced the names of two men suspected of kidnapping 3-year-old Briant Rodriguez two weeks ago.
Liberto Vega, 30, and Israel Moreno, 28, are believed to be the men who burst into Briant's San Bernardino home May 3 and abducted him after first tying up his family and ransacking the house.
Authorities say they found evidence at the crime scene that links the two to the abduction.
Both men were in the country illegally and have criminal histories in San Bernardino County, officials said.
Also wanted for questioning is 21-year-old Claudia Acosta-Serrano. Acosta-Serrano is the girlfriend of Vega and investigators believe she was in communication with Vega after the kidnapping and met with him in Mexico.
She is wanted only as a person of interest for questioning.
Sheriff's Sgt. Dave Phelps declined to comment on whether the men knew Briant's family.
According to Lt. Rick Ells of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, a municipal police officer spotted the boy wandering the streets of Mexicali alone late Thursday.
The officer thought that Briant was a neighborhood child, and took him door to door seeking his family before taking him to child protective custody.
Mexican authorities did not realize who the child was and didn't notify U.S. authorities until Friday afternoon, Ells said.
FBI agents and the boy's mother -- Maria Rosalina Millan -- flew to Calexico late Friday, in hopes of identifying the boy as her abducted son.
An FBI agent crossed the border and handled immigration paperwork for the boy, who holds dual U.S. and Mexican citizenship, according to Ells. Then, the FBI agent escorted Briant back across the border to be reunited with his mother.
The reunion did not happen until the day after Rodriguez's mother arrived in Calexico because of the amount of paperwork involved in the cross-border incident.
A spokesman for the Baja California state prosecutor's office also said Millan wasn't able to see the boy right away because he understood she was an illegal immigrant in the U.S. and did not want to risk crossing the border.
San Bernardino police declined to comment on Millan's immigration status.
It was discovered that Briant's kidnappers had shaved the boys hair off in an attempt to hide his identity.
It had become widely known that the 3-year-old had long curly hair after his picture was circulated by police and media outlets.
San Bernardino County Sheriff Rod Hoops said the suspects could be driving a green Ford Bronco.
Detectives had few leads on the kidnapping until a surveillance camera from a store showed the suspects' faces the day Briant was kidnapped.
On that day, the two suspects, armed with handguns, tied up the mother and four other children and ransacked the home before escaping with the child and an unknown amount of cash, according to San Bernardino County Sheriff's Spokesperson Cindy Beavers.
One of the children, an 8-year-old boy, freed himself and then untied the rest of the family, Beavers said.
The ages of the rest of the children was not immediately known, but authorities said Briant is the youngest of Millan's seven children. Her 16-year-old boy was not home and another adult child does not live at home.
The boy's father was at work at the time of the abduction.
No ransom was ever demanded.
The family reportedly plans to move out of the home as soon as possible.
Liberto Vega, 30, and Israel Moreno, 28, are believed to be the men who burst into Briant's San Bernardino home May 3 and abducted him after first tying up his family and ransacking the house.
Authorities say they found evidence at the crime scene that links the two to the abduction.
Both men were in the country illegally and have criminal histories in San Bernardino County, officials said.
Also wanted for questioning is 21-year-old Claudia Acosta-Serrano. Acosta-Serrano is the girlfriend of Vega and investigators believe she was in communication with Vega after the kidnapping and met with him in Mexico.
She is wanted only as a person of interest for questioning.
Sheriff's Sgt. Dave Phelps declined to comment on whether the men knew Briant's family.
According to Lt. Rick Ells of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, a municipal police officer spotted the boy wandering the streets of Mexicali alone late Thursday.
The officer thought that Briant was a neighborhood child, and took him door to door seeking his family before taking him to child protective custody.
Mexican authorities did not realize who the child was and didn't notify U.S. authorities until Friday afternoon, Ells said.
FBI agents and the boy's mother -- Maria Rosalina Millan -- flew to Calexico late Friday, in hopes of identifying the boy as her abducted son.
An FBI agent crossed the border and handled immigration paperwork for the boy, who holds dual U.S. and Mexican citizenship, according to Ells. Then, the FBI agent escorted Briant back across the border to be reunited with his mother.
The reunion did not happen until the day after Rodriguez's mother arrived in Calexico because of the amount of paperwork involved in the cross-border incident.
A spokesman for the Baja California state prosecutor's office also said Millan wasn't able to see the boy right away because he understood she was an illegal immigrant in the U.S. and did not want to risk crossing the border.
San Bernardino police declined to comment on Millan's immigration status.
It was discovered that Briant's kidnappers had shaved the boys hair off in an attempt to hide his identity.
It had become widely known that the 3-year-old had long curly hair after his picture was circulated by police and media outlets.
San Bernardino County Sheriff Rod Hoops said the suspects could be driving a green Ford Bronco.
Detectives had few leads on the kidnapping until a surveillance camera from a store showed the suspects' faces the day Briant was kidnapped.
On that day, the two suspects, armed with handguns, tied up the mother and four other children and ransacked the home before escaping with the child and an unknown amount of cash, according to San Bernardino County Sheriff's Spokesperson Cindy Beavers.
One of the children, an 8-year-old boy, freed himself and then untied the rest of the family, Beavers said.
The ages of the rest of the children was not immediately known, but authorities said Briant is the youngest of Millan's seven children. Her 16-year-old boy was not home and another adult child does not live at home.
The boy's father was at work at the time of the abduction.
No ransom was ever demanded.
The family reportedly plans to move out of the home as soon as possible.
