Man arrested for allegedly stealing car with toddler asleep inside in Mesa

PHOENIX – A suspect was arrested Thursday for allegedly stealing a car with a 2-year-old boy sleeping inside last week in Mesa, authorities said.

After his arrest, 24-year-old Rodrigo Garcia told police he took the car from a convenience store parking lot but abandoned it after he realized the child was in the back seat, the Mesa Police Department said in a press release Friday.

The boy’s mother said she left him in her BMW with the motor running outside the QuikTrip at Stapley Drive and Broadway Road around 5:30 p.m. on March 5 because she didn’t want to wake him up, according to police.

With more than 30 officers aiding in the search, police found the toddler unharmed inside the car in a neighborhood 1½ miles away about an hour after the incident was reported.

The mother also left her cellphone in the car, which police to tracked to the 99 Cents Only Store at Gilbert Road and Southern Avenue. They found the phone and other items belonging to the mother in a backpack at the building’s entrance.

Using surveillance video from both locations, investigators determined that the man who left the backpack at the discount store was the same person who took the car from the convenience store.

Using fingerprints lifted at the QuikTrip and facial recognition software, police identified the suspect as Garcia.

They had no luck finding him until he returned to the discount store and asked about his backpack around 6:45 p.m. Thursday and an employee called police.

Officers quickly arrived and arrested Garcia, who was booked into jail on charges of kidnapping, auto theft and vehicle burglary, according to the release.

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