PUEBLO, Colo. — A man has been arrested after the Pueblo Police Department said he falsely reported the kidnapping of a 13-year-old family member Wednesday night, resulting in an Amber Alert sent to cellphones across Colorado.
After police received information that the kidnapping report was false, Daniel Reyes, 34, told police why he did it. His truck had been stolen before, and he said he thought that if he called police, he wouldn't get an immediate response. So he said he made up the story of a kidnapped girl to get a faster response, according to the arrest affidavit in the case.
The pictures that he provided of the supposed missing girl were of a girl he knew and were taken three years ago, police said.
Officers were dispatched to Big Daddy's Sunset Bowl at 5:14 p.m. on a report of a kidnapping and motor vehicle theft.
When officers arrived, Reyes said that his cousin "Sandra," 13, was inside of his white F-250 truck that was stolen, according to a news release.
According to the affidavit, Reyes said the girl was visiting from California after her father sent her to Colorado because they were having a hard time.
Reyes took his family to the bowling alley but said that the girl had waited in the truck as they checked prices. He told police they were inside the bowling alley for 10 minutes and came back out to find the truck and "Sandra" were missing. Reyes said he had the key and the truck was turned off but that it had been stolen before, according to the affidavit.
After Reyes shared this information, the investigation quickly escalated and had multiple jurisdictions and agencies involved, according to the media release.
Officers got a description of the girl. The truck was located after an extensive search but was unoccupied. That was when police said they requested an Amber Alert.
Four hours into the investigation and the search for "Sandra," detectives received information that the reported kidnapped girl had no relation to Reyes and she was sleeping safe at home, the affidavit says.
Reyes was arrested on suspicion of an attempt to influence a public servant, a felony.
A spokesperson for the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, which uses the Emergency Alert System to send Amber Alerts to the public, said the request from Pueblo Police met all the criteria for an Amber Alert.
According to CBI, the following criteria must be met for an Amber Alert to be issued:
- The abducted child is 17 years of age or younger
- The child is in immediate danger of serious bodily harm or death
- There is enough descriptive information about the child and the abduction to help with recovery
- A local law enforcement agency or AMBER Designee from another state requests the activation
