Boy Unharmed After Bizarre Abduction : Crime: 9-year-old grabbed on way to school by man whose ransom demand is to be returned to Philippines. Deputies free child in his back yard and arrest kidnaper.

A 9-year-old boy walking to school in Mission Viejo on Wednesday morning was grabbed by a man whose ransom demand was to be returned to the Philippines, sheriff’s officials said.

The boy, who has not been identified, was on his way to Newhart Elementary School along a bike trail when Robert Ronquillo, a 34-year-old transient, grabbed him by the collar, Sheriff’s Lt. Tom Garner said. He said Ronquillo threatened to kill the boy if he was not taken to the boy’s house.

The boy took Ronquillo to the back yard of his home in the 24000 block of Via Florecer, where Ronquillo demanded an unspecified amount of money from the family or that he be sent back to the Philippines, Garner said. Meanwhile, the boy’s mother had called police at 7:25 a.m. when she saw the two enter the yard.

Deputies arrived, arrested the man on suspicion of kidnaping for ransom and freed the boy without injury, Garner said.

Ronquillo was not carrying a weapon, Garner said.

Garner said Ronquillo is an illegal immigrant from the Philippines. If Ronquillo is convicted of kidnaping, he would be deported after serving out his sentence, Garner said.

“This was a fairly heinous crime,” Garner said. “It was a 9-year-old child.”

Ronquillo might also be suffering from mental problems, Garner said.

“It doesn’t sound like” he was mentally stable, Garner said. “That’s for the experts to figure out.”