Van stolen with sleeping kids inside, WA cops say. Then Facebook users spotted it
Members of a local Facebook group helped police find a man accused of kidnapping two children, authorities in Washington said.
The mother left her two sleeping children in her Honda Odyssey minivan so she could drop off paperwork at her friend’s home at about 8:45 a.m. Monday, May 15, the Hoquiam Police Department said in a report posted on Facebook.
She didn’t want to wake her children, so she left the vehicle running with them inside of it, police said.
A 34-year-old man got into the running vehicle and drove off with it, police said.
The kidnapping was posted on the Grays Harbor Scanner Facebook page. The page posts information from police and fire department scanner feeds within Grays Harbor County along with other local news.
The initial post said an 18-month-old child and a 6-year-old were inside the van.
Two members of the page saw the van with the children inside parked at a gas station in Aberdeen, police said.
Police responded to the gas station, and the accused kidnapper ran off, according to the report.
The man was caught and arrested on charges of kidnapping and theft of a motor vehicle, police said.
“While this incident could have had a very tragic outcome, the community, from our 911 dispatchers, social media, and alert citizens, to multiple law enforcement agencies, all came together for a quick and happy resolution,” police said.
Hoquiam is about 115 miles southwest of Seattle.
This story was originally published May 16, 2023 at 10:20 AM with the headline "Van stolen with sleeping kids inside, WA cops say. Then Facebook users spotted it."
