Gwinnett Man Steals Car With Baby On Board: Police

GWINNETT COUNTY, GA — A Buford man who authorities say stole a car with a baby in it was arrested Monday by Gwinnett police and charged with kidnapping.

Joshua Rodriguez, 29, is believed to have slipped into the driver’s seat of the parked car when it was left with its engine running in the parking lot of a strip shopping center in Lawrenceville, according to Cpl. Collin Flynn of the Gwinnett County Police Department. A 7-month-old baby was in the car as well.

Then the child’s father came out of the store and “saw a Hispanic male sitting in the driver’s seat,” Flynn said, as reported by The Gwinnett Daily Post. When the father confronted Rodriguez, he threw the car into reverse and careened out of the parking lot, striking a sign and another vehicle on his way out.

The car was found abandoned in a parking lot less than a mile from where it was stolen, the baby safe inside. Rodriguez was caught soon thereafter.

Rodriguez was also charged with aggravated assault, theft of a motor vehicle and two counts of hit and run.