Janitor Receives 62-Year Term for Kidnaping 3 Girls

SACRAMENTO — A church janitor with impaired speech and hearing was sentenced to a minimum 62-year prison term Wednesday for kidnaping three young girls and molesting two of them.

The sentence was imposed on Kenneth Michel, 32, as the result of a plea bargain in which he pleaded guilty to the charges.

Michel was arrested July 18, 44 days after 4-year-old Candi Talarico was abducted while playing with friends in an alley near her downtown Sacramento home. Police found her hidden in a basement room under the pulpit of the church where Michel worked as a janitor.

Also rescued was Muey Han Safefong, 5, a refugee child from Laos, whom Michel kidnaped the day of his arrest. She was found in the trunk of Michel’s car.

Police said both girls had been molested.

Michel also pleaded guilty to the kidnaping of Daisy Jones, 6, who was rescued shortly after he picked her up on a street in the Sacramento suburb of Elk Grove.

Michel’s attorney, Kristie Warren, protested the length of the sentence. She said that because of his inability to communicate, Michel was not aware of his rights when he confessed the kidnapings and molestations to police shortly after his arrest.