El Paso mother of boy found alone in Juarez faces additional charges
The mother of a boy found in an abandoned Juarez warehouse faces additional charges.
Ruby Esmeralda Gonzalez, 26, is now charged with intentional injury to a child and filing a false report, in addition to abandoning and endangering a child causing imminent danger or bodily injury. Bond has been increased to $120,000 for Gonzalez, who has been detained in the El Paso County Jail since her arrest June 6.
According to a complaint affidavit obtained by ABC-7, Gonzalez confessed that she left the boy in an abandoned building because she “wanted to provide a better life for the child and did not want her mother to take the child.”
Sources close to investigation in Juarez told ABC-7 the boy was found in the Colonia Central near Francisco Villa and Cristobal Colon streets, not far from the international port of entry.
Mexican authorities questioned the boy, who told them his name is Luis and that his mom had left him there, documents state. A judge sent the boy to a children’s home where he has been cared for since.
On June 2, authorities in Juarez reached out to El Paso Police for help identifying the boy. Images of the boy, identified as Luis Mendez in court documents, were posted on social media and shown on local television stations. ABC-7 first broke the news on the KVIA ABC-7 Facebook page.
A complaint affidavit states Gonzalez called police to tell them the boy found in Juarez was her son. Gonzalez claimed her son was kidnapped by his biological father on Feb. 18, 2017.
