Car Stolen With One-Year-Old & Three-Year-Old Still Inside
POMPANO BEACH (CBSMiami) – A woman who left her children in her car with the keys inside while she shopped exited the store to a frightening sight -- her car and her kids were gone, according to the Broward Sheriff's Office.
The Broward Sheriff's Office says a man took the car, drove it a few miles away and dropped the children off -- in their car seats -- in the back of a pickup truck. Detectives soon tracked the man down and arrested him, a BSO spokesperson told CBS 4 News.
Watch Carey Codd's report, click here.
The children were three-years-old and one-year-old.
"The children are reunited with their family and they are unharmed," said BSO Spokesperson Gina Carter.
Carter said the suspect is Henri Du-Preez, 35. BSO detectives were interviewing Du-Preez late on Friday night.
A family member -- who refused to give her name -- said the guy who did this needs to be punished.
"I think that was very disgusting," a cousin of the children said. "You don't jump in nobody car and take nobody kids. That could have been anybody. He could've hurt those kids."
That family member said she's overjoyed that the children are safe.
"They're fine," she said. "They just got back. They're ok."
BSO says there might be a child abuse investigation and the mother might face charges for leaving the kids in the car.
At the scene where the kids were left in the back of this truck a woman, who declined to give her name, said she heard the boys and tried to comfort them.
"Two little angel little boys," she said. "We gave them cookies and juice."
Investigators say they're pleased the boys are safe and the lesson is you cannot leave your kids in a car by themselves.
"It is simply not safe," Carter said. "Any opportunistic criminal who is walking by and sees that you left your keys in the car is not gonna take the time to see what else you left in the car so it's really important if you're a parent to always, always have your eyes on your kids."
BSO said Du-Preez would be taken to jail. No word yet on the exact charges he will face.
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