Suspect charged in attempted kidnapping of Healdsburg boys

A longtime Healdsburg resident and retired ABC TV newsman who was shot and injured at the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy appeared in a Santa Rosa courtroom Tuesday to face allegations that he tried to lure two young boys into his car.

William Weisel, 77, a former associate news director who was among five bystanders shot in 1968 by Kennedy assassin Sirhan Sirhan, was charged Tuesday with two counts of attempted kidnapping, two counts of annoying a child and trespassing in the Friday incident at Oak Grove apartments.

Prosecutors said additional charges could be coming for separate incidents dating back to February in which Weisel is alleged to have provided alcohol for minors at a party and harassed an 18-year-old man who lived at the same apartment complex.

Weisel, who is being held on $500,000 bail, wore a blue jail uniform and talked privately to a lawyer before agreeing to come back to court April 29 to enter his plea and set a preliminary hearing date.

The gray-haired man with a thick mustache and sideburns spoke little, saying only “yes” to Judge Shelly Averill when she asked if he would waive his speedy trial rights.

He faces up to 11 years in prison if convicted of the two counts of attempted kidnapping, prosecutor Barbara Nanney said.

Weisel’s lawyer, Richard Scott, was out of state Tuesday but said by phone that he wanted to review the evidence before commenting on the case.

Healdsburg police said they were called to the apartments at about 3:30 p.m. Friday for a report of a man driving through the property revving his vehicle’s engine and honking his horn.

When officers arrived they met two boys, ages 9 and 10, who said Weisel tried to lure them into his car by offering to pay them money to do work at his house, police said.

The boys said they walked away but Weisel followed them on foot after they ran off, police said.

Weisel was arrested at the complex, Nanney said.

It was his fourth brush with the law since the beginning of this year.

Weisel was arrested Feb. 21 and April 3 on suspicion of contributing to the delinquency of minors and child endangerment. In those cases, Weisel is suspected of hosting large underage drinking parties where alcohol and marijuana were present, police said.

Weisel was also arrested April 8 on suspicion of trespassing at the same apartment complex. That arrest stemmed from accusations that Weisel harassed an 18-year-old man who lives in the complex and his mother. The man claimed that he’d done work at Weisel’s house while he was still a juvenile but quit because of Weisel’s attempt at inappropriate behavior, police said.

Weisel was a 30-year-old ABC News associate director covering the presidential campaign when Kennedy was assassinated in the kitchen of a Los Angeles hotel.

He told The Press Democrat in a 2006 story about the opening of the movie “Bobby” that he has a 13-inch scar across his stomach from the surgery to remove one of Sirhan’s bullets, which tore through his torso, barely missing his spine.

You can reach Staff Writer Paul Payne at 568-5312 or paul.payne@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @ppayne.