Couple accused of abducting girl

Police say the 4-year-old's mother and the woman's boyfriend took the girl, who is in state custody, during a supervised visit July 21.

By Times staff writer

© St. Petersburg Times, published August 1, 2000

Detectives found a 4-year-old girl Monday evening who Clearwater police say had been taken by her mother last month.

The girl, Natasha Tapia-Perez, was "safe and in good spirits" after police recovered her from a Tampa motel, where she had been taken by her mother and her mother's boyfriend, police spokesman Wayne Shelor said.

Police said Natasha, who had been placed in state custody, went to Crest Lake Park on July 21 with a State Department of Children and Families caseworker for a supervised visit with her mother, Dharma Perez, 35, of Clearwater. Perez's boyfriend, Edwin Camacho, 40, also was there, police said.

Pretending to put the girl's clothes in a van driven by Camacho, Perez got into the vehicle with her daughter and left, police said.

Detectives thought the girl was in danger and had been actively searching for her and for Perez and Camacho, who were named on arrest warrants on a charge of interfering with custody, Shelor said.

He declined to say what led detectives to the Interchange Motor Inn on East Fowler Avenue in northern Tampa. Detectives, he said, are convinced they were preparing to leave the area.

"We get parental custody kidnappings every week. This one, (detectives) were worried about the welfare of the kid," Shelor said. "They felt if she got out of the area they might not find her."

Detectives spotted Camacho outside the motel and arrested him shortly after 5 p.m. without incident, Shelor said. Perez and her daughter were found in a motel room, he said.

Camacho and Perez were being booked into a Hillsborough County jail Wednesday night, Shelor said.

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