Man arrested on suspicion of kidnapping, carjacking after being tracked from Oakland to Tiburon
A man was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and other offenses Tuesday after being tracked from Oakland to Marin County via a smartphone app used by the child's mother, according to law enforcement officials.
At about 3 p.m., Oakland police officers were sent to the 900 block of 85th Avenue to investigate a report of a kidnapping and were told by a woman that her car was taken while her 2-year-old child was still inside.
The child was found a short time later "unharmed wandering the streets near a warehouse" in San Leandro after being dropped off alone, according to the Marin County Sheriff's Office.
Then, at about 7 p.m., the woman called the Marin County Sheriff's Office to say she thought her car was at a McDonald's restaurant in the unincorporated community of Strawberry, just off U.S. Highway 101.
Deputies found the car empty and parked in the McDonald's lot and obtained a description of a man and a woman who were allegedly in the car earlier.
The mother then told deputies that the app was showing her stolen iPhone moving around somewhere near Greenwood Cove Drive and Tiburon Boulevard, a short distance from the McDonald's, according to sheriff's officials.
Deputies, along with probation officers and Tiburon police, searched the area and detained both people after a brief foot chase.
The man, 34-year-old Oakland resident Viorel Andrei Morari, was arrested by Oakland officers on suspicion of multiple offenses, including kidnapping, carjacking and child abuse, according to jail records.
He is being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin and is scheduled for arraignment Friday at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse in Oakland.
The 31-year-old woman wasn't arrested, according to Oakland police.