MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — One of three men who kidnapped a busload of California schoolchildren in 1976 is now living with his mother in a San Francisco suburb after being released from prison.

Richard Allen Schoenfeld was taken to Mountain View on Wednesday following his release after more than 35 years, police spokeswoman Liz Wylie said.

Additional Photos

On July 20, 1976, officials remove a furniture van buried at a Livermore, Calif., quarry, in which 26 schoolchildren and their bus driver were held captive. They escaped unharmed. One of three men convicted in the case has been freed from prison. 1976 File Photo/The Associated Press

Richard Schoenfeld is one of three people convicted of hijacking a Chowchilla, Calif., school bus and burying 26 children and their driver alive in 1976. The Associated Press

Schoenfeld’s mother, Merry, confirmed to The Associated Press that he was staying with her, but she had no further comment.

“My mother and the whole family would like to say, ‘We’re sorry’ to the victims,” his older brother, John Schoenfeld, told San Francisco TV station CBS5.

“Unfortunately, my brothers didn’t understand. It wasn’t only the kids, they thought the kids were going to be home in a couple of days, but it was a kid, it was a family, it was a whole community they affected.”

Richard Schoenfeld, 57, must wear a GPS monitoring device 24 hours a day, and will be monitored by police, authorities said.

Mountain View police were in touch with parole agents in preparation for Schoenfeld’s release, acting Police Chief Mike Hamlin said in a statement. “The MVPD will continue to work closely with parole in monitoring Schoenfeld,” Hamlin said.

Schoenfeld, his brother James and a friend, Fred Woods, were convicted of kidnapping 26 students and their bus driver and burying them alive in a furniture van inside a Livermore rock quarry in the hopes of collecting a $5 million ransom.

Their plot unraveled when they took a nap, and the students and bus driver escaped unharmed.

All three men received life sentences after pleading guilty to kidnapping charges.

An appeals court in February ordered Richard Schoenfeld’s release from prison, ruling that the Board of Parole Hearings had unfairly set his parole date for 2021 even though it concluded he wasn’t a threat to society.

But Schoenfeld had remained locked up while the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation appealed to the California Supreme Court.

When the high court told the corrections agency that it was refusing to take the case, prison officials had to free Schoenfeld.

James Schoenfeld and Woods have parole hearings later this year.

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