An 11-year-old girl who went missing from her foster home in San Clemente on Sept. 7 was found in Oregon with her mother, who is accused of abducting her, an Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokeswoman said Tuesday.
U.S. marshals and sheriff’s deputies tracked down Kaia Fina and her mother, Sera Jeselle Fina, at Beverly Beach State Park in Oregon about 9:30 p.m. Monday, said Carrie Braun of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
The 42-year-old mother was arrested on a warrant for child abduction and is awaiting extradition back to Orange County, Braun said. Kaia has been returned to the custody of social services officials, she said.
Though Fina lost custody of Kaia just before the child went missing, she did have visitation rights and saw her daughter before the alleged abduction, Braun said.
Fina was arrested Aug. 10 for failing to appear for traffic violations dating back to September 2012, according to court records. She pleaded guilty last month to driving on a suspended license and failing to properly secure a child in a vehicle and was sentenced to six days in jail, given credit for time served and released.
Shortly after that, her daughter was placed in foster care, Braun said.
Sheriff’s investigators contacted the girl’s father, who lives out of state, upon her disappearance, but were unable to get in touch with her mother, Braun said.
The youngster left her foster home at 2:30 a.m., Sept. 7, on her own, according to Braun, who said about 50 sheriff’s investigators searched the area around the foster home that weekend.