A Family Court judge is convinced a Staten Island woman knows the whereabouts of her missing 7-year-old son — and is keeping her in jail until she delivers some details.
Nearly a week has passed since a homesick Patrick Alford disappeared from a Brooklyn foster home after living there for less than three weeks.
Cops have combed the foster mother’s East New York neighborhood for days, searching nearby marshlands and flying over the neighborhood with infrared cameras, with no success.
The judge meanwhile, sent the mother, Jennifer Rodriguez, 23, to Rikers Island — even though Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said investigators don’t believe she’s involved in the boy’s disappearance.
“I have the authority to hold her pending compliance with the court’s order,” said Judge Terrence McElrath.
During a hearing yesterday, a court officer testified he heard Rodriguez tell a relative during a previous hearing that another relative has the boy.
“Blanca’s got him,” she said, according to the officer.
Later, an Administration for Children’s Services caseworker testified that Rodriguez’s aunt, Blanca Toledo, passed her a note during a supervised visit with Patrick and his little sister, Jaleen, that said Rodriguez was planning to abduct the children.
“Watch them,” the yellow Post-it note read. “Mommy trying to take them. Caution.”
The caseworker said she was so worried about the children that she sneaked them and the foster mother out a back entrance after the Jan. 8 visit with Rodriguez and Toledo.
At her Brooklyn home last night, a weepy Toledo denied having little Patrick.
“I wish I had him,” she said. “He’s not here.”
Rodriguez hung her head, bit her fingernails and cried as she listened to the testimony.
The children were removed from Rodriguez’s home because of a neglect charge, according to the caseworker. Even so, the boy has talked of little else but returning to his mother, according to someone close to the foster mom.
“We’re looking at all possible aspects,” Kelly said. “We made a major effort to search the area.”
Rodriguez also has two open criminal cases for allegedly shoplifting from the Staten Island Mall late last year, according to the Staten Island DA’s Office.