NEW ORLEANS — It took investigators with Louisiana State Police's Special Victims Unit less than an hour on Thursday to find a missing 18-month-old child and arrest the man who kidnapped him, an LSP police statement said.
Deputies with the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office asked the Special Victims Unit for help to find the child shortly after 5 p.m. Within an hour, investigators had the child and their abductor in sight.
LSP investigators used all available resources to find the child and abductor, a statement said.
During that hour, LSP SVU investigators heard reports that the child could be at a home in East Baton Rouge Parish, so they arrived at the home in question shortly after 6 p.m.
There, troopers saw New Iberia resident John Michael Mason, 25, with the 18-month-old child.
"Troopers immediately took Mason into custody and safely recovered the child," an LSP spokesperson wrote. "Mason was arrested and booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Jail for violating LRS 14:44.2 Aggravated Kidnapping. The incident remains under investigation."
Louisiana State Police's Fugitive Apprehension Unit worked alongside SVU during the investigation.
The LSP SVU investigators working this case were from the Baton Rouge Field Office, the report said.
The child was abducted in New Iberia.
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