4 Men Arrested in Businessman’s Abduction

The owner of a Westminster sewing factory was kidnapped and shot by men who were arrested as they drove across town with the wounded man, police said Wednesday.

The four suspects, all out-of-state residents, may be the same men who burst into an Irvine computer firm earlier Tuesday and bound several employees before leaving empty-handed, police said.

In the Westminster case, the men dragged the 38-year-old business owner into a Toyota Camry as he was leaving his sewing and clothing factory in the 14000 block of Hoover Street about 8:45 p.m. Tuesday, said Westminster Police Lt. Bill Lewis.

“They may have tried to take him to his home to get money out of him,” Lewis said. “Whatever they were up to, it hadn’t had a chance to unfold.”

A passerby witnessed the abduction and called police, who stopped the car near McFadden Avenue and Euclid Street, about four miles from the factory.

The businessman was shot once in the leg; police were unsure whether he was wounded before being shoved into the car.

Police arrested Theo Duc Tiet, 33, of Portland, Ore.; Dung Thanh Tran, 34, of Seattle; Hung Ky Kha, 32, of Seattle; and Kha’s brother Anthony Hiep Kha, 38, of Las Vegas.

They are being held at Orange County Jail on suspicion of conspiracy, robbery, attempted murder and kidnapping. Bail was set at $1 million each.

The factory owner, who was not identified, was treated at UCI Medical Center in Orange.

His injury is not life-threatening.

“It appears the victim was targeted,” Lewis said. “But we don’t know why yet.”

The gunmen in the Irvine incident used plastic ties to handcuff four employees at Dane Elec in the 15000 block of Laguna Canyon Road about 6:45 p.m. Tuesday.

The intruders fled after an employee escaped and called police.

“There’s enough similarities for us to look at,” Irvine Police Investigator Larry Montgomery said.