4 charged in Utah child-kidnapping investigation that sparked Amber Alert
By Pat Reavy
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SALT LAKE CITY (KSL) — Criminal charges were filed Wednesday against four people police say prompted an Amber Alert as part of a child-abduction investigation involving an 18-month-old girl and her noncustodial mother.
Holly Angelina Smith, 32, of Salt Lake City, is charged in 3rd District Court with child kidnapping, a first-degree felony; child abuse, a class A misdemeanor; and giving false information to a police officer, a class C misdemeanor.
Three others, Jose Francisco Robles-Prieto, 47; Joey Frederick Jimenez, 41; and Eric Mathew Jimenez, 37, all from Salt Lake City, were also charged with child kidnapping, a first-degree felony. Robles-Prieto and Eric Jimenez received additional charges of obstruction, a second-degree felony.
On Feb. 21, a juvenile court judge ordered that Smith’s daughter, 18-month-old Josephina Jimenez, be taken into state protective custody. Following the ruling, Smith “fled the courthouse,” went to the residence where she was staying and took off with her daughter before the Division of Child and Family Services arrived, according to charging documents.
Salt Lake police requested an Amber Alert be issued at about 7:10 p.m. on Friday. The alert was canceled just after 11:40 p.m. after the girl was found.
During their search for Josephina, police discovered text messages between Joey Jimenez and another person in which he “asked … for money so he could get Eric Jimenez, Smith, and (Josephina) a room to hide out at,” the charges state. But when detectives questioned Eric Jimenez, he “reported that he had not seen” the mother or child and “had nothing to say,” according to police. He was arrested at that point for investigation of obstructing justice.
Joey Jimenez claimed he had taken Smith and her daughter to the area of 1300 South near the Jordan River Trail. When police checked his phone, they found “multiple text messages and phone calls about where to hide” the mother and daughter, the charges allege. He was then taken into custody.
Officers searching the area spotted Smith and Robles-Prieto — Josephina’s biological father — walking near Redwood Road while pushing a shopping cart. Smith was wrapped in a blanket and initially gave police a false name when questioned, according to the charges. Smith was positively identified, however, because of her tattoos.
After being placed in handcuffs, she told police, “‘She’s right there, she’s in there,’ while nodding toward the shopping cart. She then stated, ‘I did not kidnap my daughter. I never kidnapped her,'” according to charging documents.
Inside the shopping cart, police found Josephina “was pale and appeared to be cold,” and her pants were “soaked in urine,” the charges state. “Her hair was knotted and matted, and she smelt like cigarettes and ‘burnt heroin.’ (Josephina) was also observed to have dirt on her feet, hands, face, arms and abdomen, and she was not wearing a diaper. It was also noted that the outside temperature was 24-26 degrees.”
Police say Smith was confrontational while being questioned. At one point, she allegedly told detectives “I’m not proud of … pushing my daughter down the street in a shopping cart to get to point A to point B because I had to hide after court all day long because I knew they were gonna … pull some (stuff) and try to put an Amber Alert out.”
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