California couple is accused in Mexico of baby-smuggling

By Anna Cearley
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

TIJUANA – A California couple faces child-trafficking charges in Mexico after they falsely registered someone else's newborn in their name and attempted to bring the child into the United States.

Three other people were also arrested, including the child's mother, Reyna Mendoza Velásquez, and two doctors who assisted at the boy's birth.

The couple, identified as Maria Connie Magruder and Kendall Ralph Magruder, were put in touch with Mendoza in Mexico City through a family member who knew the boy's mother, said Baja California Attorney General Antonio Martínez Luna. That occurred before the child was born.