Man Sentenced to Life Term for Kidnapping Boy
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A Koreatown man was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for abusing and kidnapping a 5-year-old boy from a Wilshire-area preschool in October 2000.
A Los Angeles jury found 35-year-old Jong Mok Choe guilty in August of kidnapping the 5-year-old and of trying to kidnap a 3-year-old boy from another preschool. The jurors did not convict Choe on an attempted murder charge.
Authorities believe that Choe walked into the preschool on Oct. 6, 2000, and took the 5-year-old boy. He then called the mother and threatened to kill her son if he didn’t receive $30,000, authorities said. The boy was found in Griffith Park later that day.
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