Kidnapped Boy Reunited With Parents

After being held 20 hours by two armed kidnappers, the 7-year-old grandson of a successful Southern California restaurateur was returned unharmed to his anxious parents Saturday morning at a Northridge hospital.

The boy, Matthew Simms, grandson of Arthur J. Simms, owner of the Mimi’s Cafe chain, was kidnapped at 12:30 p.m. Friday when two masked men burst into his family’s Sherman Oaks home, forced his mother and a maid to the floor at gunpoint and abducted the child, police said.

His return capped an unusual series of events in which Los Angeles police, frightened for the boy’s safety by a “very threatening call,” appealed to local television and radio stations and newspapers to call the incident a home invasion rather than a kidnapping. Police said they made the request because they feared that the publicity would panic the kidnappers, causing them to harm the child.

All the media complied.

“The press was very instrumental in the release of the kid,” said Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Lt. Anthony Alba.

The two suspects remained at large Saturday evening.

On Friday afternoon, news reporters and camera crews had swarmed around the family’s home when word of the abduction spread.

After taking the boy, the two kidnappers fled on foot to a red car and drove away, eluding a citywide tactical alert by Los Angeles police and an intensive search of the neighborhood, police said. Police continued their search throughout the night.

But on Saturday morning, a woman who lived at the home where the kidnappers brought the boy waited until they fell asleep and then spirited Matthew away, said Frank Groff, a spokesman for the restaurant chain. She drove him to Northridge Hospital Medical Center and dropped him off. A doctor examined him and found him unharmed.

Soon after being dropped off at the hospital about 8 a.m., Matthew was reunited with his parents, Scott and Rochelle Simms, who went into seclusion.

Alba said he would neither confirm nor deny any information about the person who brought Matthew to the hospital. “We are still trying to find the suspects and we would be concerned for her safety if they knew she took their bonanza away,” he said.

More than 30 detectives have been assigned to the investigation, police said. They are looking for two Latinos, both with dark hair, brown eyes. One is believed to be between 20 and 30 years old. The other is in his late 30s or early 40s.

The events began when the family’s maid answered a knock at the rear door of the Simms’ two-story home in the 4300 block of Sutton Place. The maid suffered a minor back injury when kidnappers forced her to the floor.

Two painters were working upstairs but were unaware what was going on below, according to police. During the abduction, someone managed to trigger a silent alarm that brought police from the Van Nuys division, but the suspects were gone.

The kidnappers called about an hour later, police said, threatening to kill the boy if their demands were not met. Police declined to reveal the demands.

“They meant business,” Alba said.

Police believe the kidnapping was planned, rather than a crime of opportunity. “Apparently they took what they wanted,” Alba said, referring to Matthew.

As police brought Matthew and his parents together, friends stood vigil at their home Saturday to greet them when they returned.

Tom Simms, Matthew’s uncle, said: “This probably is the safest neighborhood in the whole city. No matter how safe a neighborhood is, if somebody wants to break into a house, they can.”

Matthew’s grandfather, Arthur, founded several high-concept Los Angeles restaurants, Groff said. The Mimi’s Cafe chain, which has more than 20 stores, is his most recent venture. Arthur Simms also operated Ben Frank’s, a longtime Hollywood landmark now closed, Groff said.

He is no longer involved in the day-to-day business of the corporation, which is being handled by his son, Thomas. His other son, Matthew’s father, Scott, operates one of the restaurants.

Times staff writers John Johnson, Thomas Schultz and Jose Cardenas contributed to this story.