Probation for Viet Refugee in Bizarre Abduction of Child

A Vietnamese refugee charged with stealing his 3-year-old Laotian nephew in January was sentenced to three years’ probation Thursday by Municipal Judge H. Ronald Domnitz who described the case as “probably the most unusual . . . I’ve ever seen.”

Loc Quang Le, a 31-year-old baker, told authorities that he took his nephew, Santi (Ole) Khamtong, on an outing without permission from the boy’s mother and then panicked when he realized hours later that a massive search had already begun for the missing child.

Le said after his sentencing Thursday on felony child stealing charges that he took Santi to Tijuana and left the boy with a randomly selected family because Le feared that police would torture him if he simply returned the boy to his mother.

Le’s Laotian wife, Amphone, and Santi’s mother, Soutchay Khamtong, are sisters.

At its peak, the search for Santi involved more than 150 police officers, sheriff’s deputies, Navy teams, civilian volunteers and tracking dogs. Searchers scoured the Linda Vista area, where most of San Diego’s 40,000 Indochinese refugees reside. Santi was discovered unharmed two days later in a Tijuana orphanage after Le admitted to authorities that he had driven the boy to Mexico and left him there with $20.

Domnitz attributed Le’s actions to the brutal treatment that Le received at the hands of communist officials in his homeland.

Le twice underwent communist “re-education” training--building roads in the mountains of Vietnam under harsh conditions, according to his lawyer, Gerald Blank. During that time, Le became highly fearful of authorities, Blank explained.

“I think what happened in this case was a reaction to that sort of treatment . . .,” Domnitz told Le. “What you did is understandable; it’s not correct. It cost this county a lot of money. You caused grief to a lot of people.”

Blank said that on Jan. 28, Le visited the apartment where the Khamtongs lived and found the boy playing on a tricycle near an empty swimming pool. The boy’s mother and Le’s wife were shopping, and had left Santi with a teen-age baby sitter.

Fearful that Santi might fall into the pool, Le took the boy to Le’s home, where Santi fell asleep, Blank said. Le let the boy nap and later that afternoon headed for a business appointment near Santi’s apartment. When Le spotted dozens of uniformed authorities milling about, “he freaked,” Blank said.

Le returned home, and drove the boy around San Diego before heading to Tijuana.

Le initially was charged with kidnaping, but pleaded no contest in March to a reduced charge of felony child stealing.

“(This is) probably the most unusual case that I’ve ever seen come through this department and . . . this department handles hundreds of felonies a month,” Domnitz observed.

Le could have been sentenced to a maximum three years in prison and received a $10,000 fine. Instead, Domnitz ordered him to pay $300 and to provide 100 hours’ service to one of San Diego’s Southeast Asian refugee agencies. In addition, Domnitz ordered Le to serve 20 days in a second community program to be selected by probation officials.

The judge also warned that Le is not to visit Santi or take the boy on outings unless another adult is present. Since the episode in January, Le has regularly socialized with Santi and other members of Santi’s family, according to Blank.

With an interpreter at his side, the diminutive, bespectacled Le nodded his head frequently in response to Domnitz’ remarks. More than a dozen of the baker’s relatives and other well-wishers warmly congratulated him after Domnitz ruled that Le would not have to spend time behind bars.

Le said after Thursday’s hearing that he, too, was pleased by Domnitz’ ruling.

“I am just happy people can understand my mistake and that I can put my life back together again,” Le said afterward.

He said he plans to open a bakery-restaurant in Linda Vista and hopes eventually to reduce his felony conviction to a misdemeanor so that he can apply for a beer and wine license.