The Region : Fake Kidnap Costs Father

An Anaheim man who faked the kidnaping of his 3-year-old son, distressing his wife and sending Buena Park police on a five-day wild goose chase, was ordered by a judge to pay $12,500 restitution and perform 100 hours of community service work. David Thach, 37, was given permission by Orange County Municipal Judge Linda Lancet Miller to perform the community service in Georgia and to pay the restitution from that state, where his family plans to move. Thach had arranged for his brother, Robert, to take the boy, Paul Bao Thach, from the toy department at a Buena Park K mart store Dec. 4, 1984, while he and his wife Grace were in another part of the store. Five days later he admitted that the boy was safe with his grandfather in Macon, Ga. Thach had pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of filing a false police report.