Children abducted at elementary school may be in Mexico on way to Ukraine, LAPD says
A Ukrainian man who recently lost a custody battle abducted his children from their school in Sylmar and is fleeing to Mexico en route back to his home country, Los Angeles police said.
Detectives are searching for 39-year-old Rodion Kolomoeits and his two children, 9-year-old daughter Avaora and 7-year-old son Hrant, whom authorities say he picked up from their elementary school on Hubbard Street on Tuesday around 11 a.m.
Kolomoeits is believed to have traveled into Mexico at the San Ysidro border crossing in a 2016 gray Toyota Prius with license plate 9PKY966 about three hours after he picked up the children, according to authorities.
Avaora is 4 feet 6 and weighs approximately 75 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing a blue shirt and black pants.
Hrant is 4 feet tall and weighs about 50 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes. He was last seen in a green and blue sweater and black pants.
Both are native Russian speakers and police believe Kolomoeits is planning to take them to Ukraine.
Anyone with any information is asked to call LAPD's Mission Division at (818) 838-9810.
Those wishing to remain anonymous can call L.A. Regional Crime Stoppers at (800) 222-TIPS or can go online at www.lacrimestoppers.org.
Approximately 200,000 children annually are victims of family abductions, of being taken by a family member rather than a stranger, according to various state and federal agencies.
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