A man accused of stealing a car with a 3-year-old child inside outside an Oakland Park restaurant over the weekend has been arrested, authorities said.
Phillip J. Pepe Jr., 33, was taken into custody Thursday evening in Lake Worth, Broward Sheriff's Office officials said.
Pepe had been wanted in the Saturday morning incident that happened outside an IHOP at 3101 W. Oakland Park Boulevard.
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Officials said a woman had arrived to pick up food at the restaurant and left her 3-year-old son in her car while she ran inside.
Moments later, Pepe was seen in surveillance footage jumping into the car and driving away, officials said.
The frantic mother is heard pleading for help in a 911 call placed just moments after the child was taken.
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"He has my son in the car!" the mother says in the 911 call that was released Thursday. "Oh my God, my poor baby is in the car with this stranger!"
"Oh my God, I just left for one second," she says later in the call.
Deputies arrived a short time later, and quickly found the vehicle abandoned with the child at a gas station at 1901 Northwest 40th Avenue in Fort Lauderdale.
Pepe fled the scene but was quickly identified as the suspect, officials said.
A detective had received a tip that Pepe was at a hotel in Lantana but when investigators arrived at the hotel, he was gone, officials said.
Based on information from the hotel reservation, authorities tracked him down to Lake Worth, officials said.
Pepe was booked into the Palm Beach County jail and is facing charges of kidnapping, false imprisonment of a child and grand theft auto in Broward.
