Los Osos woman pleads not guilty to trying to kidnap 3-year-old from SLO target store
A 50-year-old Los Osos woman arrested last week after police say she tried to kidnap a child from the Target store in San Luis Obispo pleaded not guilty to two felony charges Wednesday and has posted bail.
Rosmary Osorio Loaiza, a Colombian citizen married to a local U.S. citizen, faces charges of attempted kidnapping and false imprisonment by violence, filed last week by the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney's Office.
She appeared in court Monday but did not enter a plea. She returned Wednesday accompanied by friends, supporters and a translator for her arraignment.
Her attorney, Ginger Ortiz, declined to comment on specifics of the case at this point, but she said that supporters helped pool resources to bail Osorio Loaza out of jail.
She had been held in lieu of $50,000 since April 18, when she turned herself in to authorities.
According to police, Osorio Loaiza tried to take a 3-year-old boy away from the store on Los Osos Valley Road on April 18, but she released the boy's hand and left the store without incident after the child's parent confronted her.
The incident was allegedly captured on store surveillance cameras, but that footage has not been released to the public.
The San Luis Obispo Police Department asked for the public's help in identifying Osorio Loaza, and according to authorities, she physically went to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office substation in Los Osos to speak to a deputy regarding the incident.
Deputies notified the San Luis Obispo Police Department, which called Osorio Loaiza. She agreed to meet officers at police headquarters in SLO, where she was arrested and taken to San Luis Obispo County Jail.
According to the DA's Office's criminal complaint, the attempted kidnapping charge alone carries a maximum sentence of eight years in state prison.
She's due back in court for a further hearing May 2.
This story was originally published April 25, 2018 at 2:39 PM with the headline "Los Osos woman pleads not guilty to trying to kidnap 3-year-old from SLO target store."