58-year-old Kenosha man taken into custody, accused of stealing vehicle with sleeping boy inside

PLEASANT PRAIRIE -- Pleasant Prairie police say a 58-year-old Kenosha man was taken into custody after a vehicle was stolen with a child inside. It happened early on Thursday morning, June 23rd at the Mobil gas station near 47th Avenue and 116th Street.

Police say around 2:15 a.m., they responded to the gas station for a report of a vehicle that had been stolen with a child sleeping in the back seat.

Officers met with the father of a nine-year-old boy, who indicated he and his two sons were in Pleasant Prairie on vacation from California. They had stopped at the gas station, and the father and his 14-year-old son went inside -- leaving the sleeping nine-year-old boy in the back seat of the running vehicle.

Moments later, when they exited the store, they found that their 2016 Hyundai rental vehicle was gone.

Officers shared the vehicle description with area law enforcement agencies and began efforts to track the father’s cell phone, which was in the rental car.

At approximately 2:40 a.m., a Lake County Sheriff’s deputy observed the stolen vehicle on I-294 near Willow Road.

Illinois law enforcement authorities pursued the vehicle, which initially refused to stop.

When the vehicle eventually stopped, the child was found unharmed, still sleeping in the back seat of the vehicle.

A 58-year-old Kenosha man was taken into custody in Illinois. He is being held in the Lake County Sheriff's Department's jail -- pending extradition.

The investigation is ongoing.