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SAN PABLO — A 2-year-old child emerged uninjured Monday after a woman stole a vehicle with the toddler inside, police said.
Police reunited the child with its mother and arrested a 35-year-old Oakland woman on suspicion of vehicle theft and kidnapping, according to a statement from San Pablo police. That woman remained in custody Tuesday morning at the Martinez Detention Facility in lieu of $360,000 bail, according to jail records.
Police said surveillance video showed the woman taking the mother’s vehicle in the 1300 block of California Avenue. Officers descended upon the surrounding neighborhoods and found the vehicle with the child unharmed near Barrett Avenue and Hayes Street.
Officers later found the suspect with two other females in the 2900 block of Martin Luther King Avenue in Oakland by pinging the victim’s cell phone that had been taken from the vehicle, police said. They added that the three women entered a white 2016 Hyundai Tucson that officers later tried to pull over.
The Hyundai, which police said they later discovered to be stolen out of Hayward on March 3, took off. Officers pursued it for a short time until the suspects stopped the car in the 1400 block of E. 11th Street in Oakland and ran, police said.
Police detained the woman suspected in the kidnapping, though the other two got away. Police said officers compared surveillance footage and confirmed the woman they arrested in Oakland was the same suspect in the San Pablo vehicle theft.
The investigation is ongoing, and police are still looking for the other two females. They urged anyone with information to call the San Pablo Police Department at 510-215-3150.