Re-victimized: Mother says missing childrens group scammed her
The phone call rekindled hope for Claudia Gómez of Logan after seven frustrating years of searching for her daughter, Brenda, who she says was kidnapped by her father.
On the phone was Ángela Cedeño-Jiménez, director of Missing Angels. She had seen a post by Gómez about her daughter on Missing Angels Facebook page, and assured her that the nonprofit organization had helped find other victims of parental kidnapping. She gave Gómez the name of an investigator who she said could help her.
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But over the next few months, Álvarez Russi would accept $5,000 from Gómez while accomplishing little toward locating young Brenda.
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The agencies involved in the case insist they are aboveboard and that payments were only enough to cover legitimate expenses. But one warned Gómez not to talk to the media, and the other wont explain why it stopped talking to Gómez once her money ran out.
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Gómez said Álvarez Russi called her in August supposedly from Mexico and said he had located her daughter. But he said he needed more money because what she had sent him was not enough.
Thats when she told him she had no more money to give him. And that was when Alvarez Russi cut off all communication.
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http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/53408489-78/gómez-missing-russi-daughter.html.csp