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Details:

On August 27, 2021, deputies assigned to the Palm Desert Station responded to the 31000 block of Robert Road, in the unincorporated area of Riverside County, known as Thousand Palms, regarding a child abduction. The father of a female child had reported a woman had forcefully removed his child from her elementary school. Additionally, during the incident, the female had a short struggle with a staff member at this school. This female, along with another female fled the area in a late model sedan. The females were later identified as the child’s biological mother, Sara Lee Almodovar, 36 years of Texas and her mother, Rosa Valenzuela-Walker, 58 years of Texas. The father was the only parent with legal custody of their child.

The sedan was later located at the Palm Springs International Airport. It was discovered the vehicle used in the commission of the abduction was a rental vehicle. Investigative leads were developed, and it was determined the females changed vehicles and had fled the airport in a late model Chevy truck, in an unknown direction. With the assistance of the California Highway Patrol, the truck’s license plate was identified. The vehicle was located in the 1000 block of Mojave Road, Parker Arizona. The vehicle was stopped with the assistance of the Parker Police Department, city of Parker Arizona. The child was safely reunited with her father. Both Almodovar and Valenzuela-Walker were booked into the John Benoit Detention Center, in the city of Indio.

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department is asking anyone with additional information to contact Investigator Jose Munoz at (760) 836-1600 or call anonymously at (760) 341-STOP (7867) and reference incident #: O212390004.

For media inquiries regarding this incident please contact the Media Information Bureau.

Sara Lee Almodovar	Rosa Valenzuela-Walker