The father of the six-year-old Albuquerque girl police issued a missing child alert for Saturday evening turned himself in to police at KOB's front door Sunday evening.
Abelino Lopez showed up to KOB's studios near downtown Albuquerque around 4 p.m., where he was subsequently arrested.
Sunday morning, Lopez had called our newsroom and said he planned to turn himself in at the studios. KOB contacted police shortly thereafter, since the safety of a child was of concern.*
Lopez said he came to the news station because he wanted his arrest to be filmed. He had been sending letters to the governor, state lawmakers and KOB since April, discussing his disappointment with his ongoing custody battle for his two children.
Lopez told KOB his daughter was with family.
"She's in California now; I called her, she was real happy to talk to me. When I asked her, she was in church I asked her if she wanted to go with her dad, and she said yes," said Abelino Lopez.
Police have doubts Arianna is in California.
"Anybody harboring this child right now, they need to call us," said Officer Simon Drobik, spokesman for Albuquerque police. *"If they don't, they could be facing charges themselves."
Police began looking for Lopez after they said he took six-year-old Arianna Lopez from Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church Saturday, when she went to the restroom.
Detectives said a judge had temporarily ordered Lopez not to have contact with Arianna until he underwent a psychological evaluation. Josh Carpenter, the attorney for Arianna's mother, said the protective order was put in place last week, after Lopez attempted to take Arianna from school.
While he turned himself in, Lopez told officers he disagrees with the judge's decision.
Stephanie Claytor: "Why did you take her when you don't have custody of her?"
Abelino Lopez: "Because these people are violating policy and procedure at the court house, they're violating the judicial system. And if they want me to abide by their jurisdiction, then they have to do the same thing."
Lopez told KOB the Children's Treatment Center made his daughter sign a consent form to take psychotropic anti-anxiety medication that he doesn't believe his daughter needs.
He also sent KOB documentation that states back in 2010, he had custody of the couple's kids while his wife was being treated for bipolar disorder.
"My wife is suicidal. She's wanted to commit suicide six times," Abelino Lopez said. "She told the doctors she wanted to shoot me; the voices in her head were telling her this. And yet the judicial system allows her to take our kids. How is that possible?"
Court records state Arianna's mother, Shari Lemoine Lopez and Abelino Lopez, filed for divorce in 2010 and have been fighting each other for custody of their two children ever since.
Police charged Abelino Lopez with custodial interference, a fourth-degree felony. He still has not told police or KOB where Arianna Lopez is.