Mesa PD: Man stole car with 2-year-old asleep in backseat

Man stole car with 2-year-old in backseat, police say

The incident happened on March 5, when officers responded to a QuikTrip in Mesa just before 5:30 p.m. or reports of a stolen vehicle. A woman told police her car had been stolen after it was parked outside of the convenience store.

MESA, Ariz. - Police say a man has been arrested after he stole a car that was parked outside a Mesa business with a 2-year-old boy asleep in the backseat.

According to Mesa police, officers responded to a QuikTrip near Broadway and Stapley Roads just before 5:30 p.m. on March 5 for reports of a stolen vehicle. A woman told police her car, a dark blue BMW 328I, had been stolen after it was parked outside of the convenience store.

The woman said her son was asleep in the backseat and she left it running because she did not want to wake him up. The woman also left her cellphone in the car, which police were able to track.

Thirty officers responded to the scene and searched nearby for the car and child.

Police got a description of the suspect through surveillance video at the QuikTrip and were able to track the woman's cellphone to a 99 Cents store near Gilbert Road and Southern Avenue.

(Mesa Police Department)

Officers responded to the store and found the phone inside a backpack, along with other items belonging to the woman whose car was stolen.

After accessing surveillance video at the 99 Cents store, police identified the man who left the backpack behind as the same suspect from the QuikTrip surveillance video.

(Mesa Police Department)

Police also learned the suspect had changed clothes and was now wearing shorts and flip-flops. His original clothing was found in the bathroom and throughout the 99 Cents store.

Just before 6:30 p.m., the woman's vehicle was found abandoned in a nearby neighborhood and the 2-year-old boy was found inside and was unharmed.

Investigators lifted fingerprints from the vehicle and used facial recognition software to identify the suspect as 24-year-old Rodrigo Garcia.