WEST COUNTY / Man Charged With Child Endangerment

A 43-year-old Santa Barbara County man was arrested on suspicion of felony child endangerment after he allegedly took two young children from a Santa Paula motel without first informing their relatives.

Family members, who were staying at the Harvard Motel on East Harvard Boulevard, notified Santa Paula police about the disappearance of the 5-year-old boy and his 4-year-old sister about 6 p.m. Tuesday.

David Stefan Kass was arrested later after a family friend saw him with the children.

“He was not related to the children,” Sgt. Carlos Juarez said. “In fact, he was pretty much a stranger to the family. He knew the kids only because they had cared for his cat for a couple of days.”

Authorities said Kass had rented a room recently at the Harvard Motel and was staying at the Santa Paula Motel, but that his last known address was in Santa Barbara County.

“There was nothing questionable as far as inappropriate behavior with the children,” Juarez said. “For all intents and purposes, he used very bad judgment in taking the children without obtaining permission from the grandparents or the father.”

Kass told police he thought the children had received permission from their family to leave.

“He said he was taking them for a walk to get ice cream, but then had other duties to do and took longer than he should have--but the elements were not there to charge him with kidnapping,” Juarez said.

Authorities said they charged Kass with child endangerment because he allegedly walked near busy streets with the children, did not closely supervise them and had no means of contacting family members if something had happened to the children.