Orange County Sheriff's Department investigators say they've made contact with a missing 10-year-old Mission Viejo boy and his father. The father is accused of taking the child to Mexico, violating a court order. Sheriff's investigators say that while they do not know exactly where the father and son pair are, they do believe the boy is safe.
Jaime Zepeda, the 33-year-old father of Jaime Huerta, picked up his son from Linda Vista Elementary School around 1 pm on Wednesday and was supposed to drop the boy off at his mother's home later that evening.
Zepeda never showed according to Lt. Wayne Rehnelt of the Orange County Sheriff's Department.
The parents are not living together, and their marital status was unknown according to Orange County sheriff Lt. Lane Lagaret.
The father is a Mexican citizen and is believed to have ties and family in Mexico according to Lagaret.
"This morning we were able to contact the father on his cell phone and had a conversation with him and then asked to speak to the son to see if he's OK,'' Lagaret said. ``He's doing fine, according to Jaime (Huerta).''
Lagaret said that when sheriff's officials made contact with the pair, they asked the boy if he was "ready to come home." But Huerta said that no, he's fine with his father for now according.
The evidence will now be turned over to the Orange County District Attorney's Office which will make the decision on whether or not to file charges that would lead to an arrest warrant.
If a warrant is issued, it would allow authorities to detain Zepeda at the border should he return to the US. It would also assist local authorities in Mexico to seek Zepeda out in order to get the boy back home.