Linda Vista

A 32-year-old Vietnamese refugee has pleaded innocent to charges of kidnapping, false imprisonment and child endangerment in the disappearance of a 3-year-old Laotian refugee. Lac Quong Le, a baker, entered the plea Friday before Municipal Court Judge Laura P. Hammes. Santi (Ole) Khamtong disappeared Jan. 28 while playing outside his mother’s Linda Vista apartment. He was found Jan. 30 in the Tijuana House for Abandoned Children. Le, a Linda Vista resident, was arrested Jan. 31. Le reportedly told police he drove the boy across the border, gave him $20, then left him with a Mexican family. The boy’s disappearance triggered a massive search.