Los Angeles Family of Five Vanishes After Their Newborn Tested Positive for Cocaine - LAPD
After the police discovered that a family's three-week-old baby was positive for cocaine, the family of five is now missing.
Mother, Newborn Test Positive with Cocaine
According to Fox News, the Los Angeles Police Department released a statement regarding the ongoing search for Luis Avalos and Arely Anaya, who were reported missing with their three children.
Based on KTLA 5's report, LAPD stated that the Department of Children and Family Services or DCFS called them on Monday to report an investigation connected to "general neglect and narcotics abuse involving three children."
The police department was notified by social workers in LA that they were in the process of getting a court order to place the children in protective custody and were securing an arrest warrant for the parents.
Luis Avalos and Arely Anaya reportedly fled Sun Valley along with their three children: 5-year-old King Anaya, 4-year-old Prince Anaya, and their 3-week-old newborn who tested positive with cocaine Legend Avalos.
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LAPD's Search for Missing Sun Valley Family Continues
Based on the report of the International Business Times, the mother and the infant both tested positive for cocaine use on December 2, the day when the baby was born.
After the discovery of the medical professionals, the DCFS was notified of the tests and contacted the parents several times throughout the first half of December.
Instead of cooperating with the authorities, both Avalos and Anaya stopped responding to the phone calls of the LA officials after they became aware of the DCFS plans to remove the children from them and place them in protective custody.
The organization that handled the plans for the kids informed LAPD Foothill Juvenile Detectives of their intention to place the children under custody and issue an arrest warrant for the mother and the father of the newborn that tested positive with cocaine.
However, during the rescue operations, LAPD officers who arrived at the family's home in the 8900 block of Haddon Avenue on Monday failed to locate neither the parents nor the children.
According to witnesses, the couple was worried about the possibility of their children being taken away from them. The witnesses stated that the couple left their home two days prior to Christmas day, with a possible destination of Reno, Nevada.
"The parents no longer responded to phone calls, nor answered their door for DCFS," police said.
Furthermore, the LAPD has also released images of Luis Avalos and Arely Anaya, hoping that the public could help locate and rescue the children who were suffering at the hands of their parents. No pictures of the children were released by authorities.
The LA police department has requested the public to share any information or leads about the family's whereabouts and report it to the authorities by calling (818)-756-8861 and 1-877-LAPD-24-7 (1-877-527-3247) on weekends.
This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Jess Smith
WATCH: Police Search For Missing Family -CBS Los Angeles