2 Men Held in Alleged Kidnaping

Compton police rescued an infant from his alleged kidnapers around midnight Friday after being tipped by phone that the boy had been abducted from his Beverly Hills home and was being taken to Compton.

Police in both cities were trying late Friday to piece together the case, in which the mother showed up hours later at the Compton police station in the company of a man, who was then arrested.

The boy, who is believed to be 10 to 12 months old, was being cared for in a county children’s shelter. Law enforcement officials would not release the names of the mother and infant.

Two suspects were booked on suspicion of kidnaping and were being held in the Los Angeles County Jail in West Hollywood in lieu of $100,000 bail. They are Keith Desmond Holder, 30, of Los Angeles and Steven W. Rose, 28, who recently moved to the Los Angeles area from Sacramento, according to police.

Compton police may have been the first to learn about the kidnaping when they received the telephone tip Thursday night. They said they intercepted the car carrying the baby and one of the men as it entered their city off the 91 Freeway at Wilmington Avenue.

Rose was driving the car but insisted that he was just taking care of the baby for the parents, said Compton Police Lt. Hourie Taylor, head of criminal investigations.

Police did not know the identity of the baby, however, until they received a phone call about 7:30 a.m. from Holder saying that the kidnaping tip was a mistake and that he and the mother would be in Compton soon to pick up the infant.

Police had a difficult time sorting out what had happened, Taylor said, because the mother speaks little English. But police said they became convinced that the baby had been abducted, that Holder took part in the kidnaping, and that the boy was to be held for ransom, Taylor said.

Apparently the mother knew at least one of the kidnapers and one or both of them had attended a party at her house in Beverly Hills earlier that night, Taylor said.

Once it was determined that a crime was involved, Beverly Hills police were notified because the kidnaping took place in their city. The two suspects were taken from Compton to Beverly Hills late Friday afternoon.