A 32-year-old U.S. citizen who was detained by masked federal immigration agents downtown, prompting her family to report a kidnapping to police and sparking allegations of LAPD cooperation with the operation, was released on bond Thursday.
Andrea Velez walked out of federal custody after appearing in court, where a judge ordered that she be released on a $5,000 bond. She was scheduled to return to federal court on July 17 on charges of assaulting a federal officer.
Velez, a marketing designer and Cal Poly Pomona graduate, was arrested Tuesday morning after her family dropped her off at work. According to her attorneys, Velez’s sister and mother saw her being approached and grabbed by masked men with guns, so they called the Los Angeles Police Department to report a kidnapping.
Police responded to the scene near Ninth and Spring streets and realized the kidnapping call was actually a federal immigration-enforcement operation.
“The…
