Ex-UCI Professor Sent to Hospital for Abducting Boy

LOS ANGELES — A former UC Irvine mathematics instructor was committed to a mental hospital Wednesday by the federal judge who earlier declared the man insane when he kidnaped his rabbi’s 2-year-old son and took the boy to Mexico.

Alexander Gelman, 40, will remain in custody until he recovers his sanity or is well enough to be trusted in an outpatient treatment program, U.S. District Judge Ferdinand Fernandez said.

Gelman abducted Schneur Zalman Berkowitz last April and drove to Tijuana, where he was arrested a few hours later after a traffic accident. The boy was unhurt.