Man Steals Car... With 2-Year-Old Inside

On March 5, 2021 around 5:23 p.m., Mesa Police Officers responded to QuikTrip, located at 414 S. Stapley Dr. reference a stolen vehicle.  The vehicle, a dark blue BMW 328I, had been parked outside of the store and left running, with a 2-year-old boy in the back seat.  

Officers spoke to the boy’s mother, who told them that she left her son in the car because he was sleeping and did not want to wake him up.  She also left her cell phone inside which was able to be tracked. Approximately 30 officers, from several different areas of the department (patrol, detectives, undercover, and motorcycle officers) scoured the surrounding area looking for the car and the child.  

Officers at the QuikTrip quickly accessed the store surveillance video and were able to get a suspect description.

QuikTrip Video Surveillance

Officers were able to track the cell phone to the 99 Cents store, located at 1045 S. Gilbert Rd.  They found the phone in a backpack, along with other property of the mother’s, by the entrance of the building.  After viewing store surveillance video, officers saw that the man who left the backpack was also the same man from the QuikTrip surveillance video.  In addition, officers learned that the man changed clothing and was now wearing shorts and flip flops.  They found his original clothing in the bathroom and throughout the store.  

99 Cents Store Video Surveillance of suspect entering bathroom.

Around 6:24 p.m., one hour after receiving the call, officers located the vehicle abandoned in a neighborhood about 1.5 miles away from QuikTrip.  The child was located inside the vehicle and was unharmed.  He was reunited with his parents.  

Mesa Police Crime Scene Technicians were able to lift latent fingerprints from QuikTrip and Detectives used facial recognition software to identity the suspect as 24-year-old Rodrigo Garcia.  

Days were spent looking for Rodrigo with no luck until March 11, 2021.  

Around 6:47 p.m. an employee from the 99 Cents store called the Mesa Police Department and said that Rodrigo was in the store asking about his backpack.  Quickly, officers responded and took Rodrigo into custody.  

Rodrigo told officers that he did take the vehicle, but when he saw the 2-year-old child in the backseat, he abandoned it in a neighborhood.   

Rodrigo was booked into jail for the following charges and held on a $15,000 bond. 

1ct ARS 13-1304A4- Kidnapping, a class 2 felony

1ct ARS 1814A1- Theft of Means of Transportation, a class 3 felony

1ct ARS 1506A2- Vehicle Burglary, a class 4 felony