A 3-year-old boy who disappeared from his father’s tattoo parlor was found unharmed on a Brooklyn street early Monday with the 13-year-old girl suspected of kidnapping him.
The boy, missing since Saturday, was reunited with his family, while the girl was arrested on charges of kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a child, police Detective John Sweeney said.
Police had been looking for Tatiana Morales, who often hung out at Zeus Tattoos, a tattoo parlor and hair salon co-owned by the boy’s father. Employees said she lured little Brandon Aponte outside on Saturday even though his father had made clear he didn’t want her to take him.
The boy’s father, Luis Aponte, called police when the two didn’t return.
Two weeks earlier, the teenager, who often played with the boy, had taken him to a nearby candy store with his father’s permission and had returned promptly, Zeus Tattoos employees said.
Zeus Aponte, the boy’s uncle, said he had overheard Tatiana tell the boy, “I’m your mommy.”
The little boy and the 13-year-old were spotted early Monday, and police picked them up about 2 a.m.
The girl had been a straight-A student but had become moody and rebellious after she started seeing an older man, said her cousin Eli Prado, 17. She stopped coming home and dropped out of school, he said. Police said the girl had been in the custody of the Administration for Children’s Services and had recently lived in a group home.
It wasn’t immediately clear Monday if she had an attorney who could comment.