El Paso.- El Paso father Ariel De La Luz, 21, was recently sentenced after being charged last year in connection with the Amber Alert. De La Luz was charged with kidnapping and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle after taking her 11-month-old son, Amir De La Luz, across the border into Mexico on September 13, 2023.
The kidnapping charge was dropped as part of a plea bargain, but De La Luz pleaded guilty to unlawful use of a motor vehicle on Oct. 10 before Judge William Moody in 34th District Court. He was sentenced to one year in prison, with credit for 382 days he already served pending trial.
De La Luz remains in custody at the El Paso County Jail Annex for a probation violation related to a 2021 vehicle theft case, according to official records.
The incident in 2023 triggered a statewide Amber Alert after De La Luz visited the boy's mother's home on La Luz Avenue in downtown El Paso. While the mother was distracted, De La Luz took the baby and the woman's vehicle. Juárez police found the father and son in Mexico, arrested De La Luz and reunited the baby with his mother.