Bizarre Malibu RV Chase Lands Driver In Prison

MALIBU, CA — A man was sentenced Wednesday to more than 80 years in state prison for kidnapping his two young children and fleeing from authorities in an RV last year, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced.

Stephen Merle Houk, 48, was sentenced to 88 years and four months in prison after he was found guilty of two counts each of kidnapping, child abuse, injuring a spouse and child detention. Houk was also found guilty of one count each of assault with a firearm, criminal threats, fleeing a pursuing peace officer's motor vehicle and possession of a firearm by a felon, the District Attorney's Office press release said.

He pleaded no contest to one misdemeanor count of failing to register as a sex offender prior to trial.

On May 1, 2018, Houk attacked the mother of his children in the family's RV parked in Malibu, the District Attorney's Office said. He then pointed a loaded firearm at her and threatened to kill her, authorities said. The two children, a 10-month-old and a 3-year-old, woke up while their mother was getting attacked, the prosecutor said.

Houk drove away from Malibu and stopped at a gas station before going to a Santa Clarita coffee house where he forced the mother of his children to panhandle, the District Attorney's Office said. She eventually asked for help from a passerby who called law enforcement. Houk fled when Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies responded and a pursuit ensued, the press release said.

He eventually fled from the RV after stopping near Bakersfield; he was later found and arrested in Barstow, the prosecutor said.

The case was investigated by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Major Crimes Bureau.

Related: RV Chase Not Kidnapping, Just A Moving Home: Defense Attorney