A man and a woman from Kentucky are accused of stealing a car from a parking lot in Kroger and then leaving it when they discovered the child was in the back seat, Louisville police say.
The incident continued Monday night around 9:45 p.m. at the Kroger store in the south end of Louisville, according to police. The woman told police she was robbed of a 2006 Hyundai Tucson with a two-year-old child inside, according to the arrest warrant.
The car was later found abandoned in a parking lot about 5km from Kroger, police said. The condition of the child is unclear.
The victim gave descriptions of the suspects, and police found one of them, 45-year-old Penny Alexander, the statement said. Alexander initially told police he did not know the identity of the other suspect and that she only knew about him from the neighborhood, police said.
K-9 followed the smell of another suspect, 35-year-old John Williams, to a nearby house, the statement said. According to police, Williams was found in the back bedroom.
Williams told officers “he took the vehicle because he needed a ride,” the statement said. He said he left the vehicle when he noticed a child in it, police said.
According to police, the victim’s wallet and ID were found inside the jacket at home.
When police found Williams, he was in the process of “trying to change his behavior” in an effort not to catch him, the statement said.
Alexander later said he knew Williams and spoke to him about “transportation” before they stole the vehicle, police said. According to the police, the stolen property was found in her purse.
Alexander is accused of complicity in the kidnapping of minors, complicity in car theft, complicity in reckless endangerment and complicity in unauthorized things, court documents show.
Williams, accused of kidnapping minor car theft, reckless endangerment and unauthorized mixing of physical evidence, “created a significant risk of death or serious bodily injury to the child when he fled,” the statement said.
The two are scheduled to be delivered Wednesday morning, court records show.
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