Man who allegedly tried to abduct child at Pike Place Market charged with kidnapping

King County prosecutors today filed a second-degree kidnapping charge against a Seattle man who was allegedly leading a 5-year-old boy away from his family when his mother intervened Monday at Pike Place Market.

"Luckily, she spotted him before they turned down any streets," said a relative of the woman's. "She was screaming his name and trying frantically to keep him in sight before they rounded any corners." As she yelled, the man who was leading her son away, he suddenly let go of the child's hand. The boy ran to his mother.

The suspect, Robert Steiner Jr., 65, was ordered held on $250,000 bail for investigation of kidnapping.

The boy and his family were visiting Seattle from Santa Clarita, Calif., on Monday when they stopped at Pike Place Market.

The group included the two parents and their three children: the 5-year-old boy and two other children, ages 6 and 7.

The couple asked that they not be identified.

Police and relatives said the family of five stopped near the intersection of First Avenue and Pike Street around 11 a.m. Monday so the mother could remove a stone that had become lodged in a cast she wore on her foot.

Her husband, a firefighter, turned to help her and when they looked up, the 5-year-old was nowhere in sight.

The boy's mother, who works in the biotech industry, ran into the crowded Market area, screaming her son's name.

When she reached the intersection of Pike Place and Pike Street, she saw her son "being led by the hand by an unknown man," according to the police report.

She screamed her son's name three times, police said, and ran toward the boy.

The suspect then let go of the child's hand and "told him to go away," the police report said.

The man turned into the Market and went down some stairs, police said.

Bicycle officers from the Police Department's West Precinct were flagged down by witnesses and the family, who provided a description of the man.

Officers arrested the suspect as he was leaving a men's restroom, according to police.

According to police, the boy said the man had pulled him away from his family and only released him when his mother came to his rescue.

Though upset, the boy wasn't hurt, police said.

Steiner's relatives say he has been receiving weekly shots of antipsychotic medication from the Veterans Affairs hospital and that he was on his way to get his medication on Monday.

His mother said it was her son's routine to stop at the Pike Place Market to use the restrooms there before getting on another bus for the final leg of his trip to the hospital.

She said her son's doctor had recently changed his medication.

"He's never done anything like this before. I just know it was his medicines," she said.

Steiner lives in a senior apartment complex in Ballard.

Steiner has convictions from the 1980s for stealing a motor vehicle and attempting to elude police, but court records show no recent criminal activity.

The family of the 5-year-old boy involved in Monday's incident released the following statement this afternoon.

"Words cannot describe the depth of our gratitude to everyone who helped us to get our son back on Monday. We particularly thank the phenomenal officers with the Seattle Police Department and the others who assisted us at Pike Place Market, employees and visitors alike. We are painfully aware of how different this could have turned out and our hearts go out to families who have even been through this and worse."

Christine Clarridge: 206-464-8983 or cclarridge@seattletimes.com

Seattle Times staff reporter Sara Jean Green contributed

to this report.