Parents Fault Officers Over Treatment of Retarded Son : Search: Youth, 19, is missing after being released from jail without family being notified. Said to have the mental capacity of a 5-year-old, he had been arrested on suspicion of theft and held with adult inmates.

VENTURA —  The parents of a 19-year-old mentally retarded youth searched through Ventura’s suburbs and transient haunts Tuesday for their missing son, who was arrested last week and then released from the Ventura County Jail without their knowledge.

“They’ve turned my boy into a homeless child,” said Eric Schimmel’s mother, Linda Smith, as she went among the city’s transients, handing out flyers with her son’s photo. “My whole life, I’ve had to fight to get him help and to get people to recognize he has a problem.”

Schimmel, whose mental capacity is said to be that of a 5-year-old, was arrested a week ago near his home in the remote mountain community of Frazier Park. He had climbed into a vacationing neighbor’s van that was filled with toy trucks and play balls he could see through its windows.

Ventura County sheriff’s deputies who answered a prowler call in the sparsely populated town on the Ventura-Kern county line told Schimmel’s mother that they intended to take him into custody on suspicion of vehicle tampering, loitering and petty theft.

She said she did not object then because she was angry at her son for not heeding her repeated orders to stay off the neighbor’s property. But she thought he was only going to be held overnight in a juvenile facility, she said.

As she searched for her son on Tuesday, driving city streets, visiting the fairgrounds where she thought he might be drawn by the lights and colors, Linda Smith said she is particularly worried about the teen-ager because he does not know how to use a telephone and is too shy to ask for help.

“He won’t ask for help,” his mother said. “He has a sweet, gentle personality. But he’s real shy and can’t talk to people.”

Smith faulted jail officials for the handling of her son’s arrest, from keeping him in Ventura’s main adult jail over his family’s protest, to releasing him late on a Friday night without notifying his family.

“My worst fear is not finding him,” she said quietly. “I don’t feel very hopeful right now.”

The sheriff’s office, while it denied making any mistakes in releasing the teen-ager, nonetheless issued an all-points bulletin for Schimmel on Tuesday after learning that none of the 13 other inmates released with him knew where he was, Ventura County Assistant Sheriff Richard Bryce said.

Some county mental health advocates said the incident illustrates how police agencies often deal with the mentally disabled. “It does sound like this guy has fallen through the cracks. Hopefully, he won’t get hurt,” said Fred Robinson, executive director of the Assn. for Retarded Citizens, Ventura County.

Last Wednesday, after arresting Schimmel, deputies took him to the main jail. On Thursday, relatives learned his whereabouts and called to protest. They were told he was fine and would be kept there until his arraignment on Friday.

On Friday afternoon, Linda Smith and her husband, Jeff, showed up in court, thinking that they could clear up what they considered to be a misunderstanding and take their son home.

Instead, they said, they were told that the arraignment was delayed and that Schimmel would be rearrested. The Smiths returned home thinking that Schimmel would spend the weekend in jail after bail was raised from $10,000 to $20,000.

According to the Smiths, they were told that Schimmel would remain in custody until a new arraignment Tuesday. But an aunt who called the jail on Sunday learned that he had been released two days earlier.

Jail officials confirmed that Schimmel was released on his own recognizance at 11:56 p.m. Friday, along with 13 other inmates, but they denied mishandling Schimmel’s arrest or failing to act properly in releasing him without notifying his family.

Bryce said jail officials made no mistakes in placing Schimmel in with more serious criminals in the adult jail, and in not contacting his family when he was released.

Deputies interviewed him “and he was functioning quite well,” Bryce said. “He indicated he was not afraid to be in there and that he wasn’t being preyed upon by other inmates.”

Bryce said his department does not notify relatives of mentally handicapped inmates of their release, even if they request such notification.

Only a severely “dysfunctional” inmate would be segregated and referred to the county mental health unit for assessment before being freed, he said.

“They can diagnose him any way they want. The fact is that he was in the general population for that time without incident and that speaks for itself,” Bryce said.