Authorities Fear More Abductions of ‘Parachute Teens’

It is perhaps the most unthinkable nightmare of any parent--vicious thugs enter your home, kidnap your child and hold him for ransom under threat of torture and death.

But law enforcement authorities in Los Angeles who are familiar with Asian organized crime said Tuesday that such occurrences are anything but unthinkable, and that they are happening with increasing frequency in Taiwan and other Asian nations.

And now, they fear, the Asian criminal syndicates and gangs that operate on both sides of the Pacific Rim have brought this terrifying form of extortion to Southern California. Here, they can find easy prey in so-called “parachute children”--the sons and daughters of affluent Asians who are often left unattended by parents consumed by their international businesses.

As the de facto guardians of many of these wealthy Asian teenagers, school officials said they too are on a high state of alert.

“This is exactly the kind of problem you fear will occur with these parachute kids,” said Paul Crowley, vice mayor of San Marino, a tony San Gabriel Valley community that is home to many of the teenagers.

So far, only one case has surfaced here: the kidnapping of 17-year-old Kuan Nan “Johnny” Chen, the son of a wealthy developer, who was rescued in dramatic fashion in Temple City on Monday.

Two of the alleged kidnappers made their first court appearance Tuesday before federal Magistrate Arthur Nakazato, who agreed to postpone a detention hearing until Friday so their court-appointed lawyers could explore raising bail for the pair.

Nevertheless, many authorities, elected officials and school administrators familiar with the “parachute kids” phenomenon fear the Chen case may be just the beginning, citing what FBI Special Agent Robert Messemer described Tuesday as a “rash of kidnappings” in Taiwan, “generally the offspring of very wealthy individuals.”

As the FBI and other authorities continued Tuesday to investigate the Chen case, they confirmed that they are contacting prominent representatives of Asian communities in the San Gabriel Valley and elsewhere in Southern California to determine whether other teenagers and even younger children are at risk.

The Asian “parachute teenagers” are so named because their parents set them up in Southern California, often with huge homes and extravagant allowances, so they can attend school and college here, and also so boys can avoid the Taiwanese mandatory military draft. But then the parents return to their homeland, either permanently or for long periods on international business, leaving their children vulnerable to kidnappings and other sorts of crime.

It is hard to quantify the problem. Chen’s father, authorities say, contacted law enforcement officials after learning of the kidnappers’ demands for a $1.5-million ransom. But most Asian parents are extremely hesitant to involve law enforcement, and many choose instead to pay the ransoms and let their children continue their education here, local and federal authorities said.

“We have initiated community outreach programs to get across the message that people should contact the FBI” when such kidnappings and extortions occur, said Messemer, an FBI spokesman. “All too often, especially with these kidnappings, we get a phone call when it is too late.”

Messemer said he could not comment on similar cases, and cautioned that the Chen case “is not a sign of a crime wave coming here.” Nevertheless, “we see parallels,” said Messemer. The kidnap victims overseas, for instance, have wealthy parents and are also “not under close supervision.”

“We are concerned about transnational issues,” Messemer added. “If we ignored global crime trends, we would be remiss in our duties. We review [such] emerging crime trends so as to better prepare our response domestically.”

Representatives of both the U.S. attorney’s office and district attorney’s office said they knew of no other such kidnappings that have been prosecuted locally in recent years. But local and federal experts on Asian organized crime said there is plenty of evidence that other kidnappings and extortion attempts have taken place.

“They are a good target for kidnapping; they have money, their parents have money,” said Chris Kuk, a veteran Los Angeles County probation officer in the Asian Gang Unit. He said intelligence sources on the street have told him that at least several such kidnappings have quietly been settled, some for as much as $200,000.

“A lot of times the parents would rather pay the extortionists off and keep the matter down, not make a big deal about it,” Kuk said.

Sgt. William Howell of the Sheriff’s Department’s Asian Organized Crime Unit said the San Gabriel Valley, often called the “Golden Triangle” or “China Valley” for its large number of Chinese American entrepreneurs, is a magnet for sophisticated criminals who use kidnapping to extort multimillion-dollar ransoms.

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Times staff writer David Rosenzweig contributed to this article.