FBI, Police Rescue Boy Held 2 Weeks for Ransom

The FBI and San Marino police Monday rescued a wealthy couple’s 3-year-old son who was kidnapped from his home and held for two weeks for $1.3 million ransom, authorities said.

Several people were being held on suspicion of kidnapping the boy March 20, said FBI spokeswoman Cheryl Mimura.

“The boy is safe and reunited with his parents,” Mimura said. “He is healthy. He wasn’t mistreated. They took care of him.”

Law enforcement sources said a suspect led authorities to the home where the child was held. Authorities refused to reveal the identity of the suspects or of the child’s parents other than to say the father is prominent in the garment industry.

The kidnappers who forced their way into the San Marino home “knew they wanted to kidnap the child,” Mimura said.

She refused to say whether a ransom was paid or to provide details of the suspects’ capture somewhere in Los Angeles County.

“We aren’t disclosing details of the investigation yet,” Mimura said. The suspects include several Asian or Asian Americans, Mimura confirmed. The victims also are of Asian descent.

San Marino Police Chief Arl Farris said his department had worked around the clock on the case.

“Our goal was to get this child back safely,” Farris said. “We did everything possible to resolve this matter.”

Details will be given at a news conference today, he said.

The district attorney’s office said its investigators aided in the rescue, and prosecutors were preparing to file kidnapping charges.

Several news organizations, including The Times, knew about the abduction but agreed not to publicize the story because law enforcement warned that it would endanger the child’s life.

The kidnapping marks the third time in recent years in the San Gabriel Valley that a child of a wealthy family of Asian descent has been abducted by home invaders and held for ransom.

Law enforcement authorities in Los Angeles who are familiar with Asian organized crime say such crimes are happening with increasing frequency in Taiwan and now in Southern California.

In December 1998, aided by Chinese and Taiwanese police, the FBI found the 17-year-old son of a wealthy Taiwanese businessman, who had been kidnapped from his San Marino home and held 18 days for $1.5 million ransom.

Johnny Chen was chained and bound with duct tape and beaten with a hammer when he tried to escape. He was rescued from a Temple City home after three men in China tried to collect the ransom.

The Chinese government prosecuted those three. Two suspects here, both Chinese nationals, pleaded guilty in April 1999. Xu Lin Wang, 27, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and Xue Han Wang, 26, was sentenced to 85 months.

Also in December 1998, a 9-year-old South Pasadena girl was kidnapped during a home invasion and held for $200,000 ransom. The kidnappers were captured in Monterey Park after one of them picked up the ransom money and dropped off the girl in Rosemead.