LOS ANGELES — A man is scheduled to be arraigned today on charges that he kidnapped his two young children and fled from authorities in a motorhome last week.
Stephen Merle Houk, 46, was charged with two counts each of kidnapping, child abuse, injuring a spouse and child detention, and one count each of assault with a firearm, criminal threats, fleeing a pursuing peace officer’s motor vehicle, possession of a firearm by a felon, fugitive from justice and transient’s violation of registration, a misdemeanor.
\On May 1, Houk and his spouse got into a fight in the family’s RV parked in Malibu. The defendant is accused of pointing a loaded firearm at her and threatening to kill her. The two children, ages 3 and 1, were awakened by the commotion, the prosecutor said.
Houk drove away and stopped at a gas station. His wife eventually asked for help from a passerby who called for help. Houk fled when Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies responded and a pursuit ensued.
The defendant led police down a dirt road and eventually fled from the RV after stopping near Bakersfield, the prosecutor said.
He was later found in Barstow and arrested.
Prosecutors are recommending bail be set at $1 million.
