Child Found After Car Stolen While Father Used ATM
BOSTON (CBS) -- A 4-year-old is safe after someone stole a running car while the child's father used an ATM, police said.
The thief jumped into the car, where the child had been left alone. The father was apparently at an ATM at the corner of Porter and Bennington streets, according to Boston police.
The child was soon found at a nearby Mobil gas station, but the person with the car took off again.
"He kept saying that he thought someone else was going to take him but I told him no one was," said Honey Dew Donuts employee Marlenn Vargas.
When Mark Vitale walked into the gas station for a coffee, he noticed Vargas trying to console the child. He also tried to put the boy's mind at ease.
"I said calm down, help is on the way. We'll find your daddy," he said. "The kid was crying. He was a little scared."
The clerk saw a man drop the child off in the parking lot.
"I tried to calm him down. I took him in to where I work and gave him a donut to try and see if he would stop crying," Vargas said.
"I'm just glad the suspect did leave the kid off at the gas station with people there," added Vitale.
Police say the child was kidnapped about a half-mile away while sitting in an idling silver Accura. The car's plate number is 811 NL7.
It's not clear if this was a random car theft, or if the person has some connection to the child.
The boy's father was "really relieved," said Vargas, adding that the boy was still crying but finally back in his father's arms.
Saugus police believe the same suspect shoplifted at a Walgreens on Route 1 about 20 minutes after the car theft.
The father's cell phone was inside the car when the theft occurred and police have been tracking it. It was last pinged in Boston.
Neither the car or the suspect have been found.
The suspect is described as a white male, with salt-and-pepper-colored hair and wearing a dark jacket with an Oakland Raiders logo.