OAKLAND PARK, Fla. – South Florida authorities are searching for a man who they said stole a car with a 3-year-old boy inside.
Police say 33-year-old Phillip Pepe Jr. jumped into a car outside an Oakland Park IHOP restaurant and took off around 8 a.m. Saturday.
Photos of Pepe show him in a white shirt with tattoos and a large scrape underneath his left eye.
“He is wanted for kidnapping, child imprisonment and grand theft auto,” said Miranda Grossman with the Broward Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators said the child’s mother went inside the restaurant for a few minutes and when she came back outside, her son and car were gone.
Deputies were called and launched a massive search for the child.
“Within minutes, they were able to locate the vehicle just a few blocks away,” said Grossman.
The car was found seven minutes away at a gas station along the 1900 block of Northwest 40th Avenue.
Abid Khan was working Saturday morning and told Local 10 News what he learned from investigators.
“I look outside and I see almost four cars, eight police (officers) pointing guns towards this way, so I figured something happened,” he said. “Someone actually took the car, there was a kid inside and he just stopping behind your property and he ran away -- that’s how I know what happened.”
The toddler was found safe inside the vehicle, but Pepe had ditched the car and took off on foot, deputies said.
Now law enforcement is asking for the public’s help in locating Pepe.
“They believe that he fled somewhere in Broward County or perhaps he fled somewhere in Palm Beach County,” Grossman said.
Pepe was also arrested last week on drug charges.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is urged to call Broward Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS.