MESA, Ariz. (AP) - Surveillance video, cellphone tracking and some good old-fashioned detective work helped lead police to a suspect accused of stealing a car parked outside a convenience store in Mesa with a 2-year-old boy inside.
Police located the BMW with the unharmed boy inside about 1.5 miles from the QuickTrip 90 minutes after it was stolen last Friday.
They arrested 24-year-old Rodrigo Garcia Thursday and booked him into jail on suspicion of three felonies, including kidnapping, Mesa police said Friday.
Police said Garcia told officers he abandoned the car when he saw the toddler in the back seat. The boy’s mother told police she left him in the running car because he was sleeping.
She also left her cellphone in a backpack in the car, which police used to track to a nearby 99 Cents store where they found the backpack near the entrance.
Video surveillance at both stores showed the same man had been there. Investigators determined he changed clothes in the bathroom and left some behind.
Police were able to lift fingerprints from the QuickTrip and used facial recognition software to help identify Garcia as the suspect, police said.
Court records don’t list a lawyer for Garcia, who was being held Friday on a $15,00 bond.
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