Relatives who kidnapped 2 Anaheim children ordered to repay search costs

According to the Contra Costa Times, Abraham Fernandez, Louis Mendoza Fernandez and Elizabeth Fernandez have been ordered to pay the police for the cost of searching for Justin and Jacob Quinones, aged 2 and 4. The boys are Abraham’s children, and Louis and Elizabeth are their grandparents. Two men grabbed the kids from their mother’s apartment complex in Anaheim, California on October 2. Elizabeth helped hide them. The Fernandezes will have to pay back $150,000 between them.

Abraham turned himself in on October 26, but the search for the children didn’t end until November 2, when Elizabeth turned the kids over to a social service agency in Texas. Louis was arrested on December 3. Two other suspects, Linda Fernandez and David Daniel Nicholas (Abraham’s cousin and her husband) were charged with kidnapping because they allegedly held the boys at their home for a time after the abductions, and Nicholas rented the kidnap vehicle. I can’t find out what happened to them, other than that they are not part of the whole restitution thing.

From the article:

The Fernandezes pleaded guilty Tuesday to two felony counts of depriving custody of a child or right to visitation, according to Orange County court records. They were sentenced to jail time and probation.Two felony counts of kidnapping for each were dismissed, according to court records. Abraham Fernandez, 23, and Louis Fernandez, who will turn 53 Thursday, were sentenced to 270 days in jail and three years of probation. Elizabeth Fernandez was sentenced to 90 days in jail and three years of probation.

[…]

The decision to recover costs of any investigation is determined on a case-by-case basis, Deputy District Attorney Jim Bacin told The Register.

Pre-planning and hiding that took place before and after the Anaheim abduction were factors in the decision to seek restitution, Bacin said. Anaheim police had to put more time and effort into the case than they would have otherwise, Bacin said.

This is a good decision. I highly doubt that the Fernandezes will ever be able to repay the money in its entirety (is interest involved, I wonder?). But I hope the payments dodge them for the rest of their lives, and every time they have to write out the monthly check they are reminded of their incredibly cruel and stupid little plan and the pain and inconvenience it caused so many people.