Deputies are looking for a man who stole a car while a 2-year-old-girl was inside it Monday evening in Spring Valley — before quickly abandoning the vehicle and fleeing.
Sheriff’s officials said a man called 911 just before 6 p.m. to say his car was stolen as he ran in to pick up a pizza from an eatery on Sweetwater Road near Jamacha Boulevard, said sheriff’s Sgt. Michael Lane.
The man left the SUV running and unlocked as he dashed in to pick up food.
Just before 6 p.m. Monday, the father called 911 to report his vehicle and his toddler daughter were missing. Around the same time, someone called to report a car with a child inside left at an intersection just blocks from where the SUV had been taken.
Deputies rushed to Jamacha Road and Sweetwater Road and found the vehicle. The girl was unharmed and still in her car seat. She was quickly reunited with her parents.
The thief was not located.
Witnesses told deputies they saw a bald man in a white shirt running from the vehicle. Deputies searched but were unable to find the suspect.
“The car went less than a mile before it was abandoned” at a stoplight, the sergeant said.
He said it seems likely the man got in the vehicle intending to steal it, but not looking to kidnap a child.
“He probably just got in the car and then looks and sees the kid and then panics,” Lane said. “Everything went from simple stolen vehicle to a kidnapping.”
Detectives plan to return to the neighborhood to talk with people at nearby businesses to see if anyone has surveillance footage of the car theft and kidnapping,
Anyone with information about the case was asked to call Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477. Up to $1,000 is being offered for information that leads to an arrest.
