Kidnaped Boy, 16, Found Safe in Bell; 2 Seized

A 16-year-old boy kidnaped two weeks ago in Redwood City has been found unharmed at an apartment in Bell and two men suspected in the case have been arrested after picking up $100,000 in ransom money near the Grand Central Market in downtown Los Angeles, police said today.

Juan Ruben Chavez, a sophomore at Woodside High School in Redwood City, called his mother at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday to report that he was “fine,” according to his aunt, Martha Chavez. When his mother asked him how he had weathered his ordeal, he told her, “I prayed a lot, like you taught me to,” the aunt said.

Investigators said Octavio Valderosa, 40, and Jose Gonzales, 22, were unaware the men they were dealing with were undercover officers when the two Mexican nationals picked up the ransom money at Third street and Broadway Wednesday afternoon.

The officers trailed the suspects to a home in the 1600 block of East 84th Street, where Valderosa and Gonzales were arrested at about 5 p.m. The boy wasn’t there, but after questioning the suspects, officers went to the apartment in the 6000 block of Wilcox Avenue in Bell, where they found the boy.

Police declined to provide additional details about the case, but preliminary reports indicated that one or more men who had been guarding the boy escaped and were being sought.

Why the boy was the target of a kidnaping remained something of a mystery today.

“The boy’s family owns a bar” said Howard Baker, a spokesman for the Redwood City Police Department. “We’re not talking about multi-millionaires, here. Obviously, there’s more to it.”