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Troubled Past Trails Abduction Suspect

News Channel 8 photo by ERIC HAUSMANN

Amalia Tabata Pereira had her first court appearance by closed circuit TV in the Manatee County Jail Wednesday morning. She was arrested Tuesday in the abduction of an infant in Plant City on Monday.

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

Published: March 25, 2009

Updated: 03/25/2009 09:34 pm

The woman at the center of a bizarre baby abduction case already has four children of her own.

She also had a gambling problem so severe it endangered the welfare of her family, Amalia Tabata Pereira admitted eight years ago when she was known as Amalia Segui.

She says she committed crimes to finance the addiction. In 1999, Pereira stole thousands of dollars from her job and burned company documents. During her trial, three of her children wrote letters to the judge, saying their mother learned from her mistakes.

It wasn't enough to gain leniency. In 2000, Pereira was convicted of arson, grand theft and forgery and sentenced to more than two years in prison.

Details of Pereira's past emerged Wednesday through court documents even as police continued to investigate why she took another woman's baby.

"At this point, we still don't have actual reasoning as to why she did what she did or why she chose the family she chose," Plant City police Sgt. David Millich said.

The child's mother, Rosa Sirilo-Francisco, said Pereira approached her on Monday at the Plant City Health Department claiming she was an immigration official. Sirilo-Francisco said Pereira told her that if she handed over 2-month-old Sandra Cruz-Francisco, she would help the parents avoid deportation to Mexico.

Pereira got the baby. Sirilo-Francisco told investigators she realized hours later that the woman was a fraud and called police despite her fears of being deported.

Pereira, 43, turned herself in to Manatee County deputies near her Bradenton home more than 24 hours after the baby was taken. The baby was with her, safe and unharmed. Investigators returned Sandra to her parents Tuesday night.

Pereira, the wife of Pittsburgh Pirates minor league player Jose Tabata, has been charged with false imprisonment, interference with child custody and impersonating a social service worker.

A judge in Manatee County set bail at $750,000 Wednesday. Pereira was then transferred to Orient Road Jail, where she was booked about 8 p.m.

Pereira has an attorney and is no longer cooperating with investigators, Millich said.

The gambling problem, the arson charges, Sandra's abduction — these are not the acts of a woman who had always been pleasant and helpful to others, said Pereira's uncle, Jesus Negron. He said he last saw her about 11 years ago in Puerto Rico, where Pereira was born.

Tabata, the Pittsburgh Pirates prospect, said in a statement through his team that he was confused by his wife's behavior.

"I am hurt, frustrated, and confused by her actions," the 20-year-old Venezuela native said. "I have and will continue to cooperate with law enforcement officials in any way that I can. Until I have all of the facts, I cannot comment any further."

Several relatives contacted Wednesday declined to comment.

Negron said he's not aware of his niece having any psychological issues.

"Every time I saw her and all I knew about her, she was fine," he said.

Court documents obtained today by The Tampa Tribune paint a different picture.

Eight years ago, the woman then known as Amalia Segui admitted to investigators that she was a pathological gambler and spent at least one day a week betting on sports, gambling in a casino and playing lotteries and Bingo.

She stole about $20,000 from her job at Instant Car Title Loans by creating dummy accounts and selling cars without owners' consent. She made entries on clients' accounts so they appeared paid up, but kept the money herself.

When the company was going out of business, Pereira worried that she would get caught. She staged a robbery and had an accomplice set files on fire.

After the blaze, she told police she was attacked by two black males who came into the business, set the fire and stole money, according to the documents. She worked with investigators on sketches of the males before the owners of Instant Car Title Loans asked police to start looking at Pereira as a suspect. She eventually admitted her involvement in the fire.

Before she was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison, Pereira's children wrote letters to the judge.

"She's been a mother and a father figure," wrote daughter Angelica Maldonado, who was 17 at the time. "Not a lot of mothers could do that. Some mothers just quit and abandon their kids but no I look up to my mother big time. She's a very strong woman. She's been put through a lot."

Wednesday, detectives reviewed surveillance video of places Sirilo-Francisco and Pereira visited the day before.

The baby was taken hours after an initial conversation between Sirilo-Francisco and Pereira inside the Plant City Health Department, where Sandra's mother took her for a routine check-up.

Health department spokesman Steve Huard said there are no cameras in the interior of the building.

"I don't think anybody in our facility knows for sure if the woman was even in our building," he said of Pereira. The child and her mother were in the building, he said.

Questions still remain about the immigration status of Sirilo-Francisco and the baby's father, Andres Cruz. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is looking into the couple's status and investigating Sirilo-Francisco's claim that Pereira posed as an immigration official.

Rick Pierce, who served as an agent with the Border Patrol for 25 years, said the fear of being deported described by Sirilo-Francisco is not unusual.

Immigrants can be very susceptible and intimidated easily, said Pierce, who has no direct knowledge of the case.

"This sounds more like the woman was targeted because she had a baby," Pierce said. "This person wanted a baby."

The Tribune's Ray Reyes, Howard Altman, Michael Messano, Stephanie Pincus and News Channel 8's Chip Osowski contributed to this report. Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 259-7691.

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