By Jeff Lipton
Detectives looking for a 6-year-old girl who was taken away illegally by her father from her Far Rockaway school nearly two months ago said they are focusing their search for the pair in the Five Towns area.
Moises Salgado, 29, removed his daughter, Daniela, from school without permission on Dec. 22, 2000, and they have not been heard from since. The girl's mother and father, both of Far Rockaway, have been estranged for two years and the young girl had been living with her mother, Claudia Rodriguez, even though the courts had not yet determined custody rights.
Police have been concentrating their search on the Five Towns area because Salgado is a former deliveryman for a local luncheonette and police believe he may be working as a laborer in the area. In addition, investigators believe the girl and her father may be living in the Five Towns area.
Even though police do not believe the man would harm his daughter, they are extremely worried about her health and well being because she has been missing school.
Det. Jennifer Williams of the 101 Squad in Queens is making it her quest to find the child.
"I will find the little girl. I have to find the little girl," Williams said. "Where is this little girl's friends? Where are her siblings? She's only six. I'm worried about her education. I'm worried about her well being. These are her surroundings and it's not right to uproot her from them."
Daniela had just gotten off the school bus at about 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 22 and was in the cafeteria, where students play before class, when her father walked into the room and led her away, witnesses told police.
"He just walked up to the child and walked off with her," Williams said. "He could be anywhere."
His actions constitute "custodial interference" under the law, Williams said. Even though as a father he had certain rights to see his daughter, he is supposed to go through the courts to gain visitation rights, the detective said.
Four days after the girl was taken, the mother went to Queens Family Court on Dec. 26 to obtain an order granting her temporary custody of Daniela and her other daughter, Kimberly, 2, who also has been living with her since she separated from her husband.
The father has indicated in the past that he wanted full custody of Daniela and on one occasion prior to the Dec. 22 incident he allegedly threatened his wife that he would take the child away. He has lived in the U.S. for about four years, arriving from El Salvador.
Even though he has family in El Salvador and Orlando, Fla., detectives strongly believe that he is still in the Five Towns. Police have contacted Salgado's brother in Orlando, but he told cops that he has not heard form him in three or four years.
"I don't think he went too far," Williams said. "Where would he go with a small child? She has no papers. It costs money."
Rodriguez' brother told police he believes he saw the father and daughter in a fast-food restaurant in Hewlett at about 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 30. Police are putting up posters in that area and in other parts of the Five Towns in hopes of tracking down leads to their whereabouts. The Fourth Precinct in Hewlett has also been notified of the search and Det. John Clinton has been providing assistance to Williams.
"We need to find her as soon as possible," Williams said. "The mother is frantic. We are concerned for the safety and well being of the child."
If he is found, the father will be ordered to court and be asked to take the legal route in order to win custody of the child. He will not be arrested or fined, detectives said. Daniela's name has been entered in a national data bank of missing children. She is described as light-skinned, with black hair and has a small scar on her forehead. Anyone with info. may call (718) 868-3428.
