2 Boys Left in Church; Note Pleads for Help

Detectives on Monday were searching for a man who abandoned his two young sons at a downtown Los Angeles Catholic church and left a note imploring whoever found them to “please take care of my boys I love. Please forgive me.”

Steven Bochy, 6, and his brother Kenny, 5, were found about 7 p.m. Sunday night sitting in the pews of St. Joseph’s Church at 12th and Los Angeles streets. An usher who was about to close the church discovered the boys, and he alerted Enrique Parisi, the pastor.

“The oldest boy was sitting there with the note in his hand,” Parisi said. “They said their dad told them to stay there and they’d be taken care of while they waited. Apparently, they were still waiting for their father to return. They seemed like nice kids, very well behaved and obedient.”

The boys were blond, Parisi said, and wearing cutoff jeans and tank tops.

“Hello,” the father had written. “Our names are Steven and Kenny. We lived in Denver, Colo. Our grandmother’s name is . . . and her phone number is. . . .

“Daddy moved us out here and lost everything, and now he can’t take care of us. He tried to send us home, but could not get any help, so he asked us to bring this note to help you get us home. . . .

“I don’t know what else to do, but I sure did not want to give them to social services because they’re innocent little boys. Their grandmother will take good care of them. . . .

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Parisi called police, who brought the boys to the Central Division station. They were then turned over the the county Department of Children and Family Services.

The boys apparently are the subject of a custody dispute between their father and their mother, who lives in Denver, police said.

“It would have been a lot better if the father would have just knocked on our door and talked with us,” Parisi said. “We could have arranged something for the kids and for himself. It’s a very sad situation. I know the father was trying to do the best he could for them.”

Police are now searching for the father, described as driving a white pickup truck with Colorado license plates. Central Division detective are conducting a child abandonment investigation, said Officer Eduardo Funes.

“In cases like this, the common practice is to return the children to their relatives,” Funes said. “That’s normal. And if relatives can take care of them, it’s obviously better for the kids to be with them than the county.”