Police in Santa Ana Saturday said an arrest has been made in connection with a woman suspected of impersonating a social worker in an attempt to kidnap another woman’s newborn child.
Police did not release the suspect’s name.
The woman went to a home in the 2300 block of Evergreen Street, near Warner Avenue, around 11:30 a.m. Friday and told the mother she was there to take her week-old child into protective custody, according to the Santa Ana Police Department.
The woman did not provide any identification and the mother refused the woman’s orders to turn over the child. The suspect then told the woman she would return with authorities, police said.
“We have social workers that work in our department,” Cpl. Anthony Bertagna of the Santa Ana Police Department told NBC4. “We have contacted them. This is not how they operate. They carry identification.”
The woman turned herself in to police at 11 p.m. Friday, NBC4 reported. The mother was able to identify the woman as the same person who tried to take her child.
Anyone with information on this incident was asked to call the Santa Ana Police Department at 714-245-8665.