Probationer accused of attempting to kidnap students pleads not guilty
Yessica Chavez Mercado
A 24-year-old probationer accused of attempting to abduct two children from an elementary school in Desert Hot Springs pleaded not guilty today to multiple felony charges.
Yessica Chavez Mercado, who was arrested at Bella Vista Elementary
on Tuesday after being detained by school staff, was charged with kidnapping and attempted kidnapping, along with a misdemeanor count of presenting a false ID
to a peace officer.
Mercado was arraigned at the Banning Justice Center before Riverside County Superior Court Judge Alfonso Fernandez, who scheduled a felony settlement conference for May 4 at the Larson Justice Center in Indio.
Charges filed against woman accused of attempting to kidnap students
Felony charges were filed on Thursday against a probationer accused of attempting to abduct two children from an elementary school in Desert Hot Springs.
Yessica Chavez Mercado, 24, was arrested at the school Tuesday after being detained by school staff, according to the Desert Hot Springs Police Department.
She is charged with kidnapping and attempted kidnapping, along with a misdemeanor count of presenting a false ID to a peace officer.
Mercado, who’s being held in lieu of $110,000 bail at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside, is scheduled to be arraigned Friday afternoon.
Woman accused of attempting to kidnap children near local elementary school
A woman who school employees say was attempted to kidnap several students from an elementary school in Desert Hot Springs.
Desert Hot Springs Police were called to the 65700 block of Avenida Jalisco at around Noon, according to a statement from the department. Officers were responding to calls that a person was trying to fight passerbys in the area. Officers made contact with the woman, a 24-year-old.
Employees at a nearby elementary school told officers that the woman tried to grab several students as they were dismissed from school.
Interviews with students and witnesses led officers to determine that the woman attempted to forcibly remove two students, but was unsuccessful. The woman had been detained by school staff and security until police arrived.
City News Service
A 24-year-old woman accused of attempting to abduct two children from an elementary school in Desert Hot Springs on Tuesday was arrested on suspicion of attempted kidnapping.
Patrol officers were sent to the 65700 block of Avenida Jalisco at noon on a report that a woman was attempting to fight people in the area, according to the Desert Hot Springs Police Department.
Cmdr. Corinn Pickett said police found Yessica Mercado Chavez at the scene, who had been detained by staff of a nearby elementary school after she had allegedly tried to grab several students as they were dismissed from school.