Anaheim Man Charged $150,000 for Cost of Searching for Missing Children

When two Anaheim brothers went missing on October 7th, the Anaheim police began a thorough and costly investigation into their whereabouts. On Tuesday the father and grandfather of the boys pleaded guilty to two felony counts of child abduction, and were charged the $150,000 fine for the cost of the child abduction investigation, including the use of the AMBER alert.

The father and his parents were sentenced yesterday for the abduction of his 2 and 4-year-old sons from outside the Anaheim home where they lived with their mother. Abraham Fernandez, 23, and his father Louis Mendoza Fernandez, 52, both of Houston, pleaded guilty Jan. 4, 2011, to two felony counts of child abduction and were sentenced to 270 days in jail and three years of formal probation. Fernandez’s mother, Elizabeth Fernandez, 42, Houston, pleaded guilty Jan. 4, 2011, to two felony counts of child abduction and was sentenced to 90 days in jail and three years of formal probation.

Co-defendants David Daniel Nicholas, 26, Monrovia, and Linda Fernandez, 29, Monrovia, are charged with two felony counts of kidnapping and two felony counts of child abduction. If convicted, they face a maximum sentence of nine years and eight months in state prison. See Penal Code Sections 278 and 278.5.