A 3-year-old boy who was in a car that was stolen in Chicopee, Massachusetts on Friday morning was found safe at a hotel in East Windsor, Connecticut, according to Massachusetts State Police.
The suspect was later found at the Dollar Tree in Windsor and was taken into custody, according to Connecticut State Police. Police said the crime appears to have been random.
Police said the mother of the 3-year-old boy called 911 at 8:51 a.m. and said her vehicle with her child inside had been stolen from Exchange Street in Chicopee. The toddler has autism, police said. Officers quickly responded and searched the area.
At 8:59 a.m., Massachusetts State Police notified Chicopee police that a license plate reader had spotted the car, a red Toyota Camry with Massachusetts plates, heading south on Interstate 91. That's when police in Massachusetts notified the Connecticut State Police as well as other local agencies.
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The car was found outside a Stop & Shop at 1095 Kennedy Road in Windsor, but neither the little boy nor the suspect were in it.
The little boy was soon after found safe at the Rodeway Inn on Bridge Street in East Windsor after hotel employees contacted authorities. Police said he was taken to a hospital to be evaluated and does not appear to have been injured.
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Massachusetts State Police initially said the suspect, 52-year-old Vadim Vorobyov, of Springfield, was found at Any Time Fitness on Kennedy Road in Windsor and taken into custody.
Connecticut State Police later clarified the suspect was found inside the Dollar Tree in the same plaza and he was taken into custody. The manager at the Dollar Tree also told NBC Connecticut the suspect was arrested in her store.
Vorobyov faces charges of second-degree kidnapping, risk of injury to a child, first-degree larceny, and first-degree reckless endangerment in Connecticut, according to Connecticut State Police. He will be charged with kidnapping, child endangerment, and motor vehicle larceny in Massachusetts, according to Mass. State Police. He will be brought to Massachusetts after he is arraigned in Connecticut, which is expected to happen on Monday, police said. Bond was set at $2 million.
They believe the suspect dropped the child off at the Rodeway Inn and then drove to the Stop & Shop shopping plaza, where he left the car.
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