The search is over for a Florida man who stole a car with a child inside last weekend outside of an IHOP restaurant.
According to investigators, a Broward Sheriff’s Office Special Victims Unit detective received an anonymous tip that Phillip J. Pepe Jr. was at a hotel in Lantana, FL, in Palm Beach County.
But when investigators arrived at the hotel, Pepe was gone.
Based on information obtained from the hotel reservation, detectives and the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Marshals Service located Pepe in Lake Worth, where they arrested him Thursday evening.
According to detectives, just after 8 a.m. on Saturday, June 17, BSO Oakland Park deputies were dispatched to the IHOP located at 3101 W. Oakland Park Blvd. in reference to a stolen vehicle with a three-year-old boy inside.
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The child’s mother was exiting the restaurant when she discovered her vehicle and son were gone.
Minutes later, deputies located the vehicle and the unharmed child at 1901 N.W. 40th Ave. in Fort Lauderdale. Deputies established a perimeter and called in Aviation and K-9 units for assistance.
However, Pepe had abandoned the vehicle and fled from the scene.
Thursday night, Pepe was booked at a Palm Beach County jail. He is facing charges of kidnapping, false imprisonment of a child, and grand theft auto.
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