According to Illinois law enforcement, a Texas woman was recently arrested for attempting to facilitate the pay-to-play kidnapping and transportation of two children to Mexico.
Cindy Sanchez, 47, is charged with two counts of kidnapping by deceit or enticement, unlawful restraint, and child abduction – parent without custody, according to 16th Judicial Circuit records.
The defendant was apprehended this week at Midway International Airport with two children, an 11-year-old and a 13-year-old, according to an Aurora Police Department press release.
Responding officers arrived at a home on Rosewood Avenue in Aurora, a large suburban community about 40 miles west of Chicago, around 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, in response to the family’s concerns about a possible double kidnapping, according to police.
“Officers arrived on the scene and discovered that the two juveniles were staying with family at the time,” the press release states. “An unknown female arrived at their home and stated she needed to take the juveniles on their mother’s behalf to her location out of state.”
As it turned out, those kidnapping fears were confirmed: Sanchez allegedly left with both children, but the children’s mother claimed she had never allowed anyone to take them anywhere.
The local law enforcement agency then enlisted the assistance of the much larger Chicago Police Department to locate the trio.
Sanchez and both children were found by police at Midway Airport, the Second City’s second-busiest airport, and the woman was arrested.
According to police, both children were safely recovered and unharmed.
Then, investigators discovered the location of the alleged plot.
Sanchez lives in Fort Worth, Texas, the second-largest of the three major cities that make up the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington Metroplex. The defendant was also identified as a relative of the children’s father.
“It was learned the children’s father, who does not have legal custody of the children, paid the suspect to bring the children to him in Mexico via the Texas border,” according to the local police.
Sanchez was arrested on Friday and detained at the Kane County Adult Justice Center. She was released from jail on Saturday morning following a Friday court appearance that resulted in a release order. The defendant is next scheduled to appear in court for a status hearing on September 18.
