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Plant City Parents Reunited With Baby

Tribune photo by JASON BEHNKEN

Amalia Tabata Pereira is led out of a Child Protection Investigation Division office to a waiting car Tuesday evening. Pereira is accused impersonating an immigration official and taking the child from her mother.

By KATIE CORONADO | News Channel 8
and JOSH POLTILOVE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 24, 2009

Updated: 03/24/2009 10:17 pm

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Sandra Cruz-Francisco

Amalia Tabata Pereira

PLANT CITY - It was a family reunion fraught with risks involving parents fearful of deportation but more afraid that their 2-month old baby had been abducted.

Tuesday evening, more than 24 hours after Rosa Sirilo-Francisco handed over her baby to a woman she said claimed to be an immigration official, Sirilo-Francisco and the child's father, Andres Cruz, waited for their daughter's return at Plant City police headquarters.

At 6:20 p.m., agents with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement walked in with baby Sandra Cruz-Francisco wrapped snugly in a white blanket.

"Rosa," one agent called out, "she's here."

Cruz reached out for his daughter and cradled her in his arms. He and Sirilo-Francisco, walked out without saying a word or visibly expressing emotion.

"You couldn't ask for a better outcome than for this child to be reunited with her parents," Plant City police Chief Bill McDaniel said.

It was the end of a daylong search for the woman Sirilo-Franciso said told her that immigration officials were at their home waiting to deport them to Mexico. If Sandra was handed over, the woman told Sirilo-Francisco, she and Cruz could stay in the United States.

Arrested Tuesday was Amalia Tabata Pereira, 43, of Bradenton who was charged with false imprisonment, interference with child custody and impersonating a social service worker.

Pereira, the wife of Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Jose Tabata, was being held at the Manatee County Jail for her first appearance hearing today.

Still unknown is Sirilo-Franciso's immigration status, the very thing that she said prompted her to give Sandra to an unknown woman.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is looking into her status.

"ICE has launched an investigation into this matter," agency spokesman Ivan L. Ortiz-Delgado wrote in an e-mail to The Tampa Tribune. "Therefore, the investigation is ongoing and in order to preserve its integrity, we have no further comments."

Health Department Checkup

The woman with long black hair and blue eyes smiled at her as she entered the Plant City Health Department on Michigan Avenue about 3 p.m. on Monday so Sandra could have a routine checkup, Sirilo-Francisco said.

The woman said her name was Janet.

Sirilo-Francisco, 30, said Janet claimed she was an immigration official. Janet told the mother that immigration officers were waiting for Sirilo-Francisco and the child's father at their home to deport them to Mexico. Janet claimed she wanted to help the couple, but she had to take the baby with her, Sirilo-Francisco said.

Janet and Sirilo-Francisco left in Janet's vehicle, and they rode to a nearby Sweetbay Supermarket, where they discussed how Janet would help the couple avoid deportation.

Sirilo-Francisco, who said she was scared, believed Janet. During the conversation, Sirilo-Francisco also noticed there was a child's car seat in Janet's vehicle.

The two then drove to the farm where Cruz, 29, works as a laborer.

Janet told him what she had told Sirilo-Francisco.

Sirilo-Francisco and Janet then went back to the health department, where Sirilo-Francisco had left her own car. She handed over Sandra there, and Janet said she would give the girl back at 8 a.m. Thursday. Janet told them she was taking the child to Miami.

When Sirilo-Francisco came home and told a relative in Georgia what had happened, the relative told her that isn't how United States government works.

Afraid that her baby had been abducted, Sirilo-Francisco told police about Janet. Police told her Janet didn't work with the immigration department, Sirilo-Francisco said.

Shortly before midnight on Monday, the FDLE issued an Amber Alert for Sandra.

Plant City police Capt. Darrell Wilson said he did not know all the details of Sirilo-Francisco's story but that there was no reason to think she fabricated her tale to police.

Police Receive Tip

The woman and Sandra didn't go to Miami.

Tuesday afternoon, the Manatee County Sheriff's Office received an anonymous call that someone had information regarding the Amber Alert issued for Sandra, sheriff's spokesman Dave Bristow said.

The caller told deputies to go to a strip mall on the 6000 block of 34th St. W. in Bradenton. When deputies arrived, Amalia Tabata Pereira and the baby girl were waiting for them. Pereira had the child in her arms and said, "Here is the Amber Alert baby," a sheriff's office news release states.

Pereira was mostly likely the person who made the anonymous call, Bristow said. After she was taken into custody about 3 p.m. Tuesday, the Amber Alert was canceled.

Her last known address is at Mirror Lake Apartments, 3407 59th Ave. W., which is near the strip mall on 34th St. W. where Sandra was recovered, Bristow said.

Plant City detectives traveled to Bradenton to serve Pereira an arrest warrant and question her. After her first appearance hearing on Wednesday, she is expected to be taken back to Plant City where the apparent abduction occurred.

McDaniel, the Plant City police chief, said investigators are trying to uncover why the woman took Sandra from her mother.

"There's still a lot of questions that need to be answered in this investigation," McDaniel said.

Immigration officials are also investigating the allegations that Pereira impersonated an agent.

"The impersonation of a federal agent is a serious crime and ICE has launched an investigation into the matter," immigration spokesman Ivan wrote. "We commend the law enforcement community in Florida for uniting to bring this baby to safety."

Pereira was arrested in Hillsborough County on arson charges in 1999, Florida Department of Corrections records show. She was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison in 2000. Pereira was released in April 2003.

Researcher Melanie Coon and reporters Jose Patino Girona, Ray Reyes, Chip Osowki, Jackie Barron and Maurice Capobianco contributed to this report. Reporter Katie Coronado can be reached at (813) 259-7197; Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 259-7691.

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