ANAHEIM : 12-Year Sentence Given in Abduction

A convicted bank robber who pleaded guilty to charges in a kidnaping incident that led to the wounding of a 10-month-old girl was sentenced Tuesday to 12 years in prison.

Steven Paul Harston, 25, of Costa Mesa had pleaded guilty in July to two counts of false imprisonment to avoid arrest, and one count each of assault on the child’s mother, evading arrest and carrying a weapon as a convicted felon.

The incident occurred Sept. 13, 1989, when Anaheim police tried to ticket Harston for allegedly running a stop sign near State College Boulevard and La Palma Avenue. After briefly pulling his car over, Harston attempted to flee, only to rear-end another vehicle on State College. He then jumped out--armed with a machine gun and a pistol--and tried to commandeer a car being driven by Jody Olmos, 31, who was stopped at a signal ahead of him.

When Olmos had difficulty getting herself out of the driver’s seat and her 10-month-old daughter out of her car seat, Harston jumped into the back seat, put a gun to her head, and ordered, “Drive, or I’ll shoot you.”

When Anaheim Motorcycle Officer Leonard Rivera shot at Harston, a bullet struck the infant, Michelle Olmos, in the right buttock. The child was treated at UCI Medical Center and released the next day.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Gregg Prickett said there may have been two reasons why Harston had such a reaction to a routine traffic arrest:

“When he was arrested, the police found several guns in his car, and some wigs,” Prickett said. “They speculate that he may have been about to pull another robbery.”

Harston, a drifter with a history of drug abuse, had been convicted of bank robbery in Westminster and sentenced to five years in prison in 1986. He was out on parole at the time of the incident.

Although the Olmos family criticized the officer for failing to consider the safety of mother and child when firing his weapon, he was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing in an investigation by district attorney’s officials.

The officer has been back on duty since a short leave after the incident when the investigation was pending.