Vagrant Held in Kidnap-Rape of 2 Boys in O.C.

A homeless man with a long criminal record kidnaped two boys from a park and raped them behind a nearby church, then telephoned one boy’s parents and demanded ransom, police said Friday.

Richard Michael Schulz, 52, who has spent more than 12 years in prison and was wanted by police, was arrested late Thursday after a brief manhunt near a hamburger restaurant, where he had expected to collect the ransom, police said.

The 11- and 12-year-olds told police that a man with a gun abducted them about 6:30 p.m. Thursday from San Antonio Park in a residential area at San Antonio Avenue and San Francisco Drive.

About 9 p.m., the kidnaper called the parents of the 12-year-old in Anaheim and demanded $200 in cash for the return of their son, Police Sgt. Terry Branum said. The boy’s mother was told to send someone to Bethel Lutheran Church in Buena Park within an hour.

At one point in the conversation, the mother told the caller that she only had $40.

“He told her, ‘That’s OK. I’ll take it,’ ” Branum said.

She called police, and a plain-clothes officer posing as a family member drove to the church at Holder Street and Lincoln Avenue in the family’s car. Another officer hid in the vehicle, investigators said.

But the kidnaper did not appear, and the officers left after about an hour.

Investigators said they later discovered that the boys were raped on a playground behind the church.

Police wouldn’t comment on whether the attack may have occurred while police were there but said they believe the rapes occurred before police arrived.

“We cannot discuss the details of at this point,” Sgt. Henry Dock said. “We are still investigating.”

About 11:30 p.m., the 12-year-old’s family received a second call. The kidnaper, calling from the same telephone booth he had used the first time, less than 100 yards from the church, lowered his price to $100. He directed that a family member meet him at Imperial Burgers at Lincoln Avenue and Hoffman Street, police said.

Police again sent the undercover officer and a second one in hiding. Outside the restaurant, a man approached the plain-clothes officer and asked if he had the money.

As the kidnaper turned to get the boys, who were behind a wall, he “must have been spooked,” Branum said. “He took off running on Hoffman. At that time, the boys popped out from behind a wall, and we grabbed them and got them away. We could have chased him, but at that point, our first priority was the boys.”

The boys were “relieved to get away from him,” Branum said. “They said they wanted to go home.”

Police cordoned off two blocks and sent more than 20 officers, a helicopter and dogs to the site.

They didn’t have to look far. The suspect was hiding in a back yard next to the restaurant, police said. Officers did not find a gun.

Schulz was being held at Buena Park Jail without bail on suspicion of kidnaping and lewd and lascivious acts with children. His arraignment is scheduled for Monday in Orange County Municipal Court in Fullerton.

The boys were treated at Martin Luther Hospital in Anaheim, where doctors confirmed that they had been raped. They were released to their parents.

Schulz, who also goes by Schultz, had been wanted since December, 1992, on a parole violation, according to records from the California Department of Corrections. He had served two state prison sentences, the first from 1974-84 for second-degree burglary in Los Angeles County, said Wanda Briscoe-King, deputy regional administrator for the Corrections Department.

In 1989, Schulz was convicted of attempted armed robbery in Placer County and sent to prison. He was paroled in 1992 and violated his parole a month later by failing to appear for a meeting with his parole officer, authorities said. His last address was in Garden Grove, where he lived last year.

Police said Schulz also had been arrested in connection with several sex crimes, but details of those arrests were not available Friday.

A resident near the hamburger restaurant said she had been awakened about midnight by the sound of helicopters and the wide disc of light it threw on her yard. Minutes later, a police officer knocked on her door. In her back yard, behind a walnut tree with low-hanging branches, police found Schulz, dressed in tattered blue jeans.

Residents near the park where boys were kidnaped also were shocked. Many said their children play in the park, which has two baseball fields.

Homeless people have been gathering at the park for years, residents said. They live in a ditch behind the baseball field and generally leave park visitors alone, said Allen Cozine, 30, president of a Buena Park girls’ softball league.

“I’ve been coming here for 15 years and it’s not a dangerous park,” he said. “We’re usually in groups and we never allow our children to remain by themselves.”

Robert Flannery, 45, who lives in the neighborhood where the suspect was caught, said: “You have a whole lifetime after the age of 18 to deal with the world. You shouldn’t have to as a child.”

Times staff writers Ken Ellingwood and Diane Seo contributed to this story.

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Kidnaping Drama

Richard Michael Schultz, a 52-year-old parolee, was arrested hours after allegedly kidnaping and sexually assaulting two boys Thursday night in Buena Park. How the events reportedly unfolded:

1. San Antonio Park: 11- and 12-year-olds kidnaped at gunpoint about 6:30 p.m.

2. Bethel Lutheran Church: Assault occurs; suspect calls parents of one demanding $200 be delivered between 9 and 10 p.m. Parents arrive with money, but suspect and boys are gone.

3. Imperial Burgers: Suspect calls parents again, asking for $100. Undercover police spot suspect about 11:30 p.m., chase him with dogs and helicopter. Boys found.

4. Private residence: Police corner suspect in back yard, make arrest.

Source: Buena Park Police Department