Girl, 13, lied about kidnapping, police say

The councilman’s daughter was cited for false report

“My daughter was kidnapped and forcedly taken from our house. No she did not know them, two hooded animals took her. They cut her arm.” — From Councilman Garry Barbadillo’s email sent on Feb. 8

MILPITAS — The 13year-old daughter of a Milpitas councilman lied when she said she was kidnapped earlier this month and has since been cited for filing a false police report, authorities said.

“After an extensive investigation, Milpitas police detectives have concluded an abduction did not occur,” Capt. Daryl Sequeira said in a terse news release Thursday night.

The daughter of Garry Barbadillo was reported missing from her home on Edsel Drive at 8:23 p.m. on Feb. 7.

Officers found her roughly 40 minutes later in the area of South Park Victoria Drive and Yellowstone Avenue.

Police said the girl told officers two men kidnapped her from her home and made her walk to Parktown Plaza while they followed in a small lightcolored sedan.

She claimed she was eventually forced into the car and then driven around northern San Jose.

The supposed ordeal came to an end when the girl escaped from the car and called home, according to police.

Barbadillo was at a council meeting when he received word that his daughter had been kidnapped and abruptly left.

“My daughter was kidnapped and forcedly taken from our house,” Barbadillo wrote in an email to this news organization on Feb. 8. “No she did not know them, two hooded animals took her. They cut her arm.”

The girl offered vague descriptions of her kidnappers but told officers their car had a “Mystery Spot” bumper sticker.

In the news release, Sequeira said the girl was “cited and released to her parents for falsely reporting a criminal offense.”

Sequeira said police would not release additional details about the case because a minor is involved and Barbadillo did not return an email for comment.

The last confirmed stranger kidnapping in Milpitas occurred in June 2015, when a 3-year-old boy was taken from the library, according to police.

He was reunited with his mother after a bus driver spotted the boy and his alleged abductor riding in the driver’s coach and called police.