Car Stolen While Couple Signed Docs

Customers of Best Mortgage left child in car

March 3, 2006

By PATRICK CROWLEY

Police said they were not sure the sort of papers that were signed. A woman who answered the phone on two separate occasions told MortgageDaily.com that employees were told by management and police not to discuss the incident.

The Wellington’s left their four-year-old son sleeping in the vehicle. But while they were in the office, three juveniles stole it with the little boy still inside, police said. The thieves did not harm the boy, but did drop him off in an alley behind a shopping mall. The pickup truck was found about 20 miles away. It was upside down in a field, police said. All three suspects were eventually arrested not far from the crash site.

“The subjects dropped the child off unharmed in the rear of (a) mall and fled the area,” police said in a statement. “A perimeter was established … and the subjects were all apprehended without incident.”

The incident was investigated the Miami-Dade Police Department’s Child Exploitation Unit. The parents were each charged with one count of child neglect for leaving their son in the car. The charges are a third degree felony.

Following the incident the Florida Department of Children and Families took custody of the Wellington’s children. A court will decide when the children will be returned, police said. The Wellington’s could not be reached to comment.

The Wellington’s did use some quick thinking after their vehicle was stolen, using the “direct connect” feature on a cell phone to communicate with the thieves. The parents begged them to not hurt their son and let him out of the vehicle, which is what ultimately happened.