Parenting

Woman Poses as Social Worker To Kidnap Newborn but Learns She Messed With Wrong Mama

ParentingPublished Jun 10, 2019
By Kaitlin Stanford
Camera footage of woman suspected of attempted kidnapABC7/YouTube

On the morning of June 7, a new mother living in Santa Ana, California, got a knock on the door she never could have expected: A woman claiming to be a social worker was standing on her front stoop, insisting that the mom surrender her newborn baby to Child Protective Services. Stunned and shaken, the mother asked for identification but received none. And when she asked to ride along with her baby, who was less than two weeks old? She was told there wasn't any room in the car -- and that if the mother refused to hand over the baby, the woman would return with a sheriff's deputy and have the newborn "forcibly removed" from the home.

But it turns out, she'd messed with the wrong mama. The mother, who has not been named publicly, stood her ground -- and called the woman's bluff.

"'OK, if the sheriff has to come in, that's fine,'" said the mother, recalling the incident to KABC. "'But I don't want to give you my kid.'"

Then she whipped out her phone and recorded video of the woman leaving the residence and getting into her car -- a move that would prove crucial when taking the story to authorities.

Police immediately began searching for the woman -- who by then CPS confirmed was not an employee -- and by the evening, she'd surrendered to police.

She originally told the mother her name was Myela Ortega, though police have not confirmed whether that was a false name. What they have shared is that she's admitted to being at the house that morning -- but insists it wasn't to kidnap the baby.

It's not clear what, if any, charges will be brought against the woman or if this was part of a larger kidnapping plot.

For now, authorities are working hard to get to the bottom of the many unanswered questions that still loom.

"How did this woman know that this victim had a child less than two weeks ago, where she lives?" asked Santa Ana Police Department Cpl. Anthony Bertagna, according to KABC. "How'd she get her personal information? That's all scary to us."

It's no doubt scary to a lot of other Santa Ana residents too -- particularly new moms who might be terrified they'll receive a similar knock on their door.

Yet as crazy as this story sounds, it's not the first time it's happened.

In November 2018, a 39-year-old Las Vegas woman named Joanna Boyd pulled a similar stunt after placing an ad online to sell baby clothes. But instead, authorities say she used the ad to lure in a family and collect information about their child -- who she then planned to kidnap.

After creating fake documents designed to look as though she were a CPS official, Boyd intended to show up at the family's home and demand they hand over their baby.

But here's where things went really crazy: Before showing up at the family's home, she contacted police and requested assistance before making the visit. There was just one not-so-small problem: The police are pretty well-acquainted with what real CPS documents look like vs. fake ones. 

As soon as she reached out, they smelled a rat -- and arranged to meet her at a separate location first, where they promptly arrested her.

There's also something about this story that's eerily reminiscent of another kidnapping story that's gripping Chicago right now.

In that case, the mother was brutally murdered before her baby was stolen -- right from her womb.

Nineteen-year-old Marlen Ochoa-Lopez was reportedly strangled inside a Chicago home after being lured there by Clarissa Figueroa, a stranger who posed as a fellow pregnant mother on Facebook. She promised to give Ochoa-Lopez free baby clothes on April 29, but instead ordered her daughter to strangle her with a coaxial cable before cutting her baby boy from her womb and later posing as the child's mother for weeks.

The case has left the city of Chicago stunned and the Lopez family beside themselves with grief as they pray for the continued recovery of Marlen's baby boy, who miraculously survived.

As for this Santa Ana case, the investigation is still ongoing, and police aren't releasing many details yet.

Although more is expected to be known about the suspect and the potential charges in the coming days, anyone with information on the case is asked to call the Santa Ana Police Department at (714) 245-8665.

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