May 22, 2008 5:12 pm US/Pacific
CBS13 Asks: Why Wasn't Olteanu Arrested?
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) ―
The 3-year-old Sacramento boy allegedly abducted by his father has been found in Romania. But authorities did not take the father or son into custody. At the time we first reported the Amber Alert yesterday, the suspect and his son were flying to Bucharest, Romania. Tonight, CBS13 asks the question why wasn't the father arrested.
The Amber Alert was cancelled, just before 8:30 this morning when Sacramento authorities knew for sure David Olteanu and his three-year-old son, Alexsander, had been located.
It started yesterday morning at a Sacramento apartment complex. At 10:35 a.m. a woman reports being raped, and tied up. The suspect was her estranged husband, David Olteanu.
A friend of the victim called 911, but deputies didn't realize a child was caught in the middle.
"We didn't immediately get all the information regarding the threats to take him from the country," say officials.
Yesterday, Sheriff Spokesman Tim Curran said the mother was uncooperative, and that is why it took five and half hours to issue an Amber Alert. But, today he changed his tone.
"Yesterday, I was kind of harsh on the mother, and we have to take into account that she did go through a very traumatic event, and then there are the cultural mistrust issues with law enforcement, but those have all been overcome. The mother has been very forthcoming and helpful ever since," explained Curran.
Detectives now believe Olteanu drove from the apartment complex in Sacramento, to San Francisco International Airport, boarding a plane that took off at 3:45 p.m. They were gone by the time the Amber Alert went out.
From SFO, the plane stopped in Amsterdam where authorities just missed them. At 1:57 this morning, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed Olteanu was bound for Romania. When he landed at 6:30 a.m. police were waiting for him.
"We wish that they would've been able to hold him, but we know that they didn't have the proper paper work to hold him," says Curran.
We are told it should only take a couple of days to the get the paperwork, and then within short order, authorities are confident that Olteanu will be arrested.
As for the boy, he is safe, and we're told it could be says or even a week before he is reunited with his mother.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
Comments