Spate of Child Kidnap Scares Give Parents New Worries

An 8-year-old boy is nearly snatched by a stranger when the boy’s baby sitter turns away for a few moments at a Costa Mesa coin laundry.

Landscapers report seeing a young girl forced into a car by two men outside a Mission Viejo school. Orange County sheriff’s deputies are perplexed when no one comes forward to report a missing child fitting her description.

A 17-year-old tells Fountain Valley police that she was kidnapped, fondled and robbed at knifepoint before the assailant let her go. Police investigate and later conclude she fabricated the story.

All three instances occurred in the past week, forcing hasty head counts at local schools and sparking new concern among Orange County parents. But local law enforcement officers stress that child abductions are rare. While heightened awareness is beneficial, it can also lead to unnecessary panic, they warn.

“When something happens in an area, it is important we go and advise the people of what occurred,” said Santa Ana Police Capt. Dan McCoy, referring to the difficult balance police must strike when an attempted abduction is reported. “By the same token . . . we don’t want to start a hysteria. We have not seen an increasing number of these things.”

Local, state and national experts agree, although much of their information is anecdotal.

Many agencies that compile crime statistics--including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the California Department of Justice--do not keep track of attempted abductions.

The number of attempted child kidnappings locally is also difficult to come by. The Orange County Sheriff’s Department, for example, doesn’t keep statistics on attempted kidnappings in its jurisdiction.

The recent rash of reported abductions in Orange County wrongly makes attempted child abductions appear to be a common occurrence, said Lt. Dan Johnson of the Huntington Beach Police Department, which this year has investigated three such reports.

But Johnson and others still recommend that parents remain alert and take extra precautions--such as discussing safety issues with their children--to help prevent a tragedy.

“Maybe police are just reporting these incidents more often when they occur, or maybe the media is suddenly giving them more attention,” Johnson said. “Either way, I don’t think raising people’s awareness is a bad thing. The fact is that these incidents do occur.”

Statistics on local and national child abductions--while still alarming--also appear to be holding steady, according to state and federal officials. And when kidnappings do occur, the culprit is more than likely to be a family members, not a stranger, officials said.

For example, in Orange County last year there were four incidents in which a child was abducted by a stranger. In each case, the child was returned home, according to the state Department of Justice, which keeps track of these figures. That same year, there were more than 200 reports of family members accused of kidnapping a child, usually in connection with a custody dispute, according to state figures.

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In 1995 in Orange County, there were two reports of strangers abducting children. Both youngsters were found safe. The number of family members accused of kidnapping a child was also lower in 1995, with 185 incidents reported, according to the state Department of Justice.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a nonprofit center that tracks abduction cases across the country, estimates that last year reports of missing children ended with 99% of the youngsters being returned to their homes.

The center says child abductions remain a serious problem in America. Each year, about 200 to 300 children are kidnapped and murdered, said Ernie Allen, president of the National Center.

“The good news is that it is not in the thousands,” Allen said.

The statistics offer some measure of comfort. But parents such as Jayne Kavlich, who lives near the Mission Viejo school where the suspected kidnapping was reported last week, said they can’t help but feel jittery about their children’s safety.

“I never was that worried about it before, but now I am more afraid of it and more cautious,” said Kavlich, who has four children. “I don’t want them to go out there alone anymore.”

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Street Danger

A string of attempted abductions has Orange County parents concerned. Local law enforcement officials do not believe incidents are increasing but rather are receiving increasing news media coverage. Some recent incidents:

* April 14: A man in a sedan follows a 13-year-old girl to Huntington Beach’s Spring View Middle School. The girl foils the abduction by screaming and fighting her attacker before running to safety.

* April 23: A man approaches a 14-year-old girl near Huntington Beach’s Ethel Dwyer Middle School and asks her if she has seen a small black dog. The girl flees and he briefly gives chase.

* May 4: A man approaches a 9-year-old girl walking in an Orange alley in the 2600 block of North Bourbon Street and offers her candy. When the girl refuses to leave with him, he displays a knife and threatens to rape her. A bystander prompts the man to run away.

* May 5: A couple try to kidnap a 6-month-old girl from a Huntington Beach grocery store parking lot near Golden West Street and Yorktown Avenue. They stop when the infant’s mother wrestles with one of the pair.

* May 23: A man approaches a 14-year-old boy in Santa Ana and offers him a ride. The boy declines. Investigators believe it is the man who two days earlier grabbed a 12-year-old girl as she walked home from school. She said the man released her after she dropped to the ground and started to cry.

* June 10: A man tries to snatch a 4-year-old boy from a Costa Mesa baby-sitter. The sitter says her screams frighten away the would-be kidnapper.

* June 11: Gardeners in Mission Viejo report seeing two men struggling with a young girl, who cries out as she is forced into a Cadillac. Authorities later say they doubt a kidnapping took place when no children are reported missing.

WHAT PARENTS SHOULD TELL CHILDREN

* Do not talk to strangers. Do not accept gifts or follow a stranger anywhere.

* Try to take a buddy with you for walks or when you are playing outside.

* If a stranger grabs you, scream, kick or do anything possible to attract attention.

* Tell a family member or trusted adult if someone tries to follow you or touches you in a way that makes you uncomfortable.

* Use common sense. If something does not feel right or seem right, don’t do it, even if an adult is telling you to do so.

Sources: Police reports, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children; Researched by LORENZA MUNOZ and BONNIE HAYES / Los Angeles Times