Man connected to child’s kidnapping indicted

Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2008 | 4:38 p.m.

Las Vegas Metro Police photo

Jose Lopez-Buelna

Oct. 21 -- Teachers tread lightly discussing classmate’s disappearance
Oct. 20 -- Police make second arrest stemming from boy’s abduction
Oct. 18 -- Kidnapped boy found unharmed

A federal grand jury today indicted a man named by law enforcement officials as a suspect in the drug-related kidnapping of 6-year-old Cole Puffinburger of Las Vegas.

The indictment names 48-year-old Jose Luis Lopez-Buelna on a felony charge of being a deported alien found unlawfully in the United States.

If convicted, Lopez-Buelna faces up to two years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine, said Natalie Collins, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Nevada.

Lopez-Buelna was arrested on Oct. 17 in Las Vegas on a felony weapons charge after eight weapons were found in a residence in east Las Vegas. He has not been charged in the Puffinburger kidnapping.

In a separate complaint filed against Cole Puffinburger's maternal grandfather, 51-year-old Clemens Fred Tinnemeyer, authorities identify Lopez-Buelna as one of the men from whom Tinnemeyer and his girlfriend, Terri Lynn Leavy, stole $300,000 to $400,000 in drug money.

Lopez-Buelna had been turned over to immigration officials last week after his arrest.

Police have identified Lopez-Buelna as an illegal immigrant who was convicted in 1997 in San Bernardino, Calif., of transporting drugs. He was deported to Mexico in 2003.

The separate complaint also identified Miguel Lnu, who authorities said Terri Leavy knew to be a major drug trafficker in Las Vegas, as another participant in the kidnapping.

Metro Police have described the kidnapping of Cole by two gunmen who posed as police officers as a "message" to Tinnemeyer, whose daughter, Julie Puffinburger, was living in the home that was ransacked by the gunmen before they snatched Cole.

For four days, an Amber Alert helped to keep the boy in the public's eye until a bus driver spotted him walking along a dark Las Vegas street unharmed on Oct. 18.