Lake County Sheriff's Officers took Laura Maria Caballero, who is known as "Sister Mary" by parishioners of the Filumena Catholic Church in Eustis, into custody for allegedly disappearing with 2-year-old Maria Lopez-Vazquez and hiding her from her parents for six months. Caballero was arrested in Miami when she returned from Argentina last month. Caballero is charged with false imprisonment and interfering with child custody. She is free on $10,000 bond.
Sheriff's investigators executed a search warrant on St. Filumena Catholic Church on Friday. Caballero both works and lives at St. Filumena. Investigators did remove items from the church but the items removed have not yet been identified.
Caballero claims the entire incident was a misunderstanding. "We have helped these people for two years," said Caballero. "They dropped off this baby numerous times with us. This whole thing is a misunderstanding. These parents gave this baby voluntarily, and now they're lying."
Caballero claims she took the child to protect her. "This is very upsetting to me. The truth is going to come out in court, and it not what they said, Caballero said, This baby would not be alive if we were not involved in her life." The Department of Children and Families investigated a child neglect complaint against the parents last year. However, the file was closed with no findings of neglect.
The mother of the child Adai Lopez-Vazquez disputed Caballero's claims saying, "We are good parents." Lopez-Vazquez says Caballero is lying and that Caballero did not respond to attempts by the parents to contact her regarding their daughter.
Caballero was arraigned on Tuesday and entered a plea of not guilty. "These are very serious charges. Given the conflicting versions of the events, it would seem someone is not being truthful," said criminal defense attorney John Musca.
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