Wednesday, June 4, 2003 | 11:20 a.m.
A 16-month-old child was found safe late Tuesday night after Metro Police initiated the state's first Amber Alert in response to a man stealing a car with the child strapped inside.
Edwin Olivas was found at a convenience store at Cheyenne Avenue and Losee Road by a store employee, who called police at about 11 p.m., Metro Lt. Ted Snodgrass said. The boy was in his mother's car, which had been stolen about five hours earlier.
But it's not clear if the child was found as a result of the Amber Alert system or because the clerk was suspicious of a car running in the parking lot with a child inside.
"More than likely, (the Amber Alert) did help because people were being bombarded with the information" about the missing child via television and radio reports, Officer Jose Montoya said.
The man who drove off with the boy hadn't been arrested as of this morning, police said.
Police said the boy's mother left the child strapped in his car seat with the engine running while she went into Vegas Shoes at Decatur Boulevard and Meadows Lane, Lt. Richard Collins said.
A man got into the 1993 Nissan Sentra about 6 p.m. and drove off with the boy. When the mother came out of the store, she saw her car pulling out of the parking lot.
"A man saw the car running, saw an opportunity and took off," Montoya said Tuesday night, adding that the mother was very distraught when detectives questioned her.
When the car was found, the motor and the air conditioning running with the child inside, Montoya said.
Police said the mother, whose name hasn't been released, hasn't been charged with a crime for leaving her child in the car. Investigating that aspect of the incident is on the back burner for now, Montoya said.
If misdemeanor charges of child endangerment are filed against the mother, it would be done through the district attorney's office, Montoya said.
"The priority right now is looking for the crook," he said. "That's where we're focusing our efforts right now."
It took about five hours for the Amber Alert to be issued because it's not fully operational yet, Montoya said. The system doesn't go into effect officially until July, and there are some glitches to be worked out.
When a child is abducted by a stranger, Metro's missing persons unit is responsible for activating the Amber Alert, he said. When the alert is activated, missing persons officials are required to fax the information to Nevada Highway Patrol which is responsible for getting the information onto electronic highway signs, Montoya said. The information is also broadcast in scrolling tickers on television.
In Tuesday night's case, "it took a little bit longer than it is supposed to," he said. "It should be a matter of minutes, not hours."
Even thought the system isn't fully operational, Montoya said they decided to use it anyway because "we were getting desperate."
"It was hot last night, and this guy got a 10-minute lead on us," he said. "The mother was so upset it took a while for her to tell us what happened. It was chaos from the beginning."
Nevada Highway Patrol spokeswoman Angie Wolff said troopers did a good job considering they system wasn't in place yet.
"Everyone is saying we screwed this up, but we were ready and it worked," she said.
She said the it took about five hours for the alert to be issued because NHP needed a certain amount of information before it can issue the alert including confirmation of abduction, a confirmed threat to the child and enough basic information about the suspect and the suspect vehicle.
When metro contacted NHP shortly after the abduction, all they had was a description of the car, she said.
"We put that out over the radio in 21 seconds. We called it out to all our troopers," she said.
NHP also alerted troopers in San Bernardino, she added.
By about 9:45 p.m., NHP had enough info to issue the alert and contacted headquarters in Reno for authorization to activate the system even though it wasn't completely up and running yet.
Minutes later, a NHP sergeant punched up the information to activate the highway signs, and the alerts were up on the signs by 10:30 p.m., Wolff said.
"Metro wanted us to have it up by 11, and we had it up by 10:30," she said.
The clerk who spotted the car called police between 15 and 30 minutes after the alert was issued.
During the five hours the child was missing, police were mostly concerned about the baby, Montoya said.
"We don't know what this gentleman is going to do," Montoya said, noting that some car thieves abandon babies once they find them inside the vehicle.
The man who drove off with Edwin Olivas was described as a Hispanic male, between 20 and 30 years of age, 5-feet, 10-inches tall, weighing about 185 pounds. He has black curly hair and was wearing a blue sweatshirt and blue pants, Montoya said.
Gov. Kenny Guinn recently signed Assembly Bill 322, sponsored by Assembly Majority Leader Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, to establish a statewide system to broadcast reports of abducted children on television, radio and roadway signs.
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