A five-year-old is at home, reunited with his mother, after a man stole the car he was in in Glen Burnie Monday afternoon.
The car theft was caught on camera.
Call it a crime of opportunity. Anne Arundel County police Lt. Ryan Frashure says that’s what caused a mother to become a victim to a car theft.
“He approaches her. He asks her for a change and for a ride. She says doesn’t have money. He walks off in the parking lot. She continues to talk to her friend, which is a very short distance away from the vehicle,” Frashure said.
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A man, seen on surveillance footage from a Royal Farms on Oak Manor Drive, paced through the store’s parking lot.
According to police, he claimed to have needed a ride up to Baltimore because his wife ‘was in labor.’
When the woman stepped away from her car, that’s when the man hopped in her running vehicle.
“She was a victim of opportunity. She was easily distracted by a friend in the parking lot. She was having a conversation with the friend. During that time, the suspect saw that she was distracted and quickly jumped in the car and took off in her vehicle,” Frashure said.
What police believe the thief didn’t know is that the five-year-old was in the backseat.
For 40 minutes, the mother didn’t know where her child was, who took him, or where they were headed.
Until she got a call from police at Baltimore’s western district.
“We’re just glad that the child was unharmed and that this individual did have the decency to realize that the child was in the car and he did let the child go near the police station,” Frashure said.
The thief left the child and the stolen car just off North Fulton Street in Baltimore.
A trail of clues for investigators, but a happy ending for a mother and son.
“We have very good pictures of the suspect, very good video from the Royal Farms store. You can’t see the suspects face real clear, but he’s certainly skinny and has good stature that someone would recognize,” Frashure said.
Police are currently searching for the suspect, who is pictured above. He's described as 6 feet tall with a skinny build. He was seen wearing a black and white baseball cap, a black shirt with "Island Quizine" written on the back, black and white Adidas-style pants and black and white shoes.
Anyone with information is asked to contact detectives at 410-222-6135.
