By Roger Lanse

On Tuesday, Aug. 18, a Santa Clara mother reported to Santa Clara Police Chief Lonnie Sandoval that her 3-year-old son, Regan Maynes, was allowed to go with his grandmother, Myrian Bastidos, 42, of Bayard, on a shopping trip to Deming. Bastidos, according to police reports, assured the child €™s father that she would return in 2-3 hours. This was mid-morning of Aug. 18, Chief Sandoval said.

At approximately 11 p.m., the mother called the Santa Clara Police Department to say that Bastidos and Regan had not returned. An officer responded to the mother’s home but she advised that she didn‘t want to file anything at that time, according to a police narrative. The officer drove to Bastidos' Bayard home but had negative contact.

On Wednesday, Aug. 19, at about 12:30 p.m., the mother again called police to report her son missing. Sandoval recorded information from the mother needed to enter her son in NCIS as missing. Sandoval also stated in the narrative that he contacted Bastidos' husband, who advised that he did not know where she was but would call if she contacted him.

A former New Mexico State Police officer, Sandoval, according to the narrative, contacted the NMSP Public Information Officer and they decided not to issue an Amber Alert due to a lack of information on the grandmother, but that the NMSP would list the children and grandmother as endangered missing people. Sandoval then got in touch with the El Paso Branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Agent Todd DiCaprio, and sent that agent a copy of the warrant and photos of the suspect and the 3-year-old boy.

On Friday, Aug. 21, Sandoval said he received a phone call from the suspect (Bastidos), who advised that she was getting ready to get on a bus to come home because her vehicle had broken down. As it happened, Sandoval was speaking by phone with an FBI agent when Bastidos called and he was able to relay the information being received from Bastidos directly to the FBI agent. However, the narrative stated, the suspect was able to elude federal agents, and she got away.

At about 5 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 21, Sandoval contacted DiCaprio, the narrative said, and was told that the suspect Bastidos had been identified and detained at the central border crossing as she was trying to enter Mexico at about 7 p.m., Friday.

Bastidos is in custody at the El Paso County Detention Center, with no bond, according to EPCDC personnel, charged with custodial interference, and, according to Sandoval, should have her first court appearance Monday, Aug. 24.

Sandoval said, “I was able to use my warrant to put out a national missing persons notice on Bastidos, the 3-year-old, and another 7-month old boy, who Bastidos was grandmother to and who had also been taken. My previous experience with the NMSP helped greatly in getting prompt responses from the NMSP, the FBI, and the El Paso Police Department.”

The Bayard Police Department handled the complaint from the mother of the 7-month-old who lives in Bayard.

According to Sandoval, the grandmother’s son is the father of both the 7-month-old and the 3-year-old. Also, Sandoval told the Beat that the grandmother has family in El Paso and that her husband, who is from Mexico, does have family south of the border.

Sandoval stated that Bastidos has no known criminal history and, according to the family, has never tried something like this before.