El Paso.- An El Paso father, Ariel De La Luz, 21, was recently sentenced after being charged last year in connection with an Amber Alert. De La Luz was charged with kidnapping and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle after she drove her 11-month-old son, Amir De La Luz, across the Mexican border on September 13, 2023.
The kidnapping charge was dismissed as part of the deal, but De La Luz pleaded guilty to unauthorized use of a motor vehicle on Oct. 10 before Judge William Moody in the 34th District Court. He was sentenced to one year in jail with credit for the 382 days he had already served awaiting trial.
De La Luz remains in custody at the El Paso County Jail Annex on a probation violation related to a 2021 vehicle theft case, according to official documents.
The 2023 incident sparked a statewide Amber Alert after De La Luz visited the home of the boy’s mother on La Luz Avenue in downtown El Paso. While the mother was distracted, De La Luz took the baby and the woman’s vehicle. Juarez police found the father and son in Mexico, arrested De La Luz and reunited the baby with his mother.
