Sex Offender Sought in Kidnaping of Boy Surrenders

A registered sex offender wanted by police in the kidnaping and sexual assault of a 3-year-old boy last week walked into a Los Angeles police station early Saturday with his parents and surrendered.

Kenneth K. Rasmuson, 25, of Santa Barbara was booked on suspicion of kidnaping and child molestation. He was being held at Los Angeles County Jail in lieu of $15,000 bail--the amount suggested by a schedule drafted by county judges.

His surrender came two days after the child he is accused of harming was found wandering naked and dazed on a road near the Ventura County line.

Rasmuson telephoned his parents late Friday night from San Diego and told them that he wanted to turn himself in, police said. The parents, who live in Glendale, drove to an undisclosed San Diego location to pick him up and arrived at the Los Angeles Police Department’s Rampart station about 3:30 a.m.

‘Appeared Calm’

“They walked right up to the desk sergeant,” Detective Andrew Cicoria said. “The suspect appeared calm when he was interviewed.”

Neither Rasmuson nor his parents explained what he was doing in San Diego.

His surrender ends what the kidnaped child’s father described as a “family nightmare.”

“No one could rest or feel comfortable” knowing that the suspect was evading police, said Armando Escobar, 32, of Highland Park. “Now I feel we can get back to a normal life.”

Escobar’s son had been playing on the sidewalk in front of his cousin’s apartment house on 1st Street and Kenmore Avenue Wednesday night when a man pulled up in a car and dragged away the kicking and screaming child.

A neighbor chased the car and copied down the license plate, which led police to issue an all-points bulletin for Rasmuson, who had pleaded no contest to two counts of child molestation in 1981. He had been released from Atascadero State Hospital in April, 1985, after a hospital report concluded that he “would no longer be a danger to the health and safety of others.”

Thursday morning, the kidnapped boy was found by a motorist along an isolated stretch of Kanan Road in the Agoura area. A medical examination revealed that the child had been sexually molested.

Escobar said Saturday that his son has been recovering “very fast and is back to normal,” playing with his three other siblings. He said the boy will undergo counseling to help recover from any emotional problems.

“We thank God that he is fine and with us now,” Escobar said. “So many parents never see their child again after something like this.”

Police said they will seek a criminal complaint against Rasmuson Monday from the district attorney’s office. They requested that he be kept in an isolated jail cell.

Police said Rasmuson was employed at a Santa Barbara Domino’s Pizza parlor. A co-worker at the restaurant said Rasmuson had worked there for about two years.

Mike George, 25, said he was not aware of Rasmuson’s troubled past.

“I know he liked to party, but other than that, he was a nice guy,” he said.