CHICOPEE, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) – Following an Amber Alert that was issued Friday when a suspect stole a car outside a store in Chicopee with a young child inside, police have shed new light on what happened.
Authorities now saying it appeared to be a random act. We’re told the suspect did not know the boy and that the vehicle had been left unattended outside the store for “less than a minute.”
This was according to Chicopee Police Officer, Travis Odiorne who spoke to us at 2 p.m. Friday, just a couple of hours after the boy had been found.
The situation all unfolded around 8:40 a.m. when a red Toyota Camry with the 3-year-old boy still in that vehicle, was stolen from outside a store at 136 Exchange Street in Chicopee.
By 10:30 a.m. Massachusetts State Police issued an Amber Alert as they and local authorities searched for the car.
Police then located the vehicle outside of Stop & Shop at 1095 Kennedy Rd. In Windsor, Connecticut, but neither the suspect nor the child were inside that car.
Then police were notified that the missing child had been dropped off at a hotel in neighboring, East Windsor at the Rodeway Inn and Suites. The boy we’re told was found by a hotel guest who was behind the hotel, walking his dog.
Western Mass News spoke to that hotel guest and we also obtained surveillance video of the boy being dropped off by the suspect.
[WATCH VIDEO: Missing 3-year-old boy in stolen vehicle found safe at hotel]
The suspect, who has been identified as 52-year-old, Vadim Vorobyov, from Springfeld, MA was taken into custody after being tracked down at The Dollar Tree in the same shopping plaza the vehicle was found at in Windsor, CT.
According to MA State Police is he being charged with Kidnapping, Child Endangerment, and Fugitive from Justice in Connecticut and is also expected to be charged with Kidnapping, Child Endangerment, and Motor Vehicle Larceny in Massachusetts.
“Preliminary investigation suggests that at approximately 8:40 a.m. Vorobyov came across the Toyota Camry as it was parked outside a residence on Exchange Street in Chicopee with the motor running and the child in the backseat. He entered the vehicle and drove away,” MA State Police explained.
We’re told the Camry was captured on a license plate reader heading south toward on Route 91 in Longmeadow before it was eventually located over the boarder in CT.
Western Mass News is getting answers as we continue to follow developments on this investigation. Stay with us online and on-air starting at 4PM on CBS3 for the very latest.
Copyright 2024. Western Mass News (WGGB/WSHM). All rights reserved.