Car With Sleeping Toddler Inside Stolen In Manchester: Police

MANCHESTER, CT — An East Hartford man is facing 10 criminal charges after vehicle with a sleeping child inside was stolen from a Manchester gas station, police said.

The incident took place at 3:18 p.m. Saturday.

Manchester police received a call that a vehicle parked at the Shell gas station at 404 Hartford road had been stolen and a sleeping 3-year-old boy was inside it, according to a report. The child was buckled in a car seat, a report indicates.

A witness told police that the vehicle fled onto Interstate-384 westbound.

Six minutes later, state and Hartford police located the vehicle at the "bottom" of the Founders Bridge. The suspect, later identified as 36-year-old Leonel Colon-Ortiz, of East
Hartford, attempted to flee on foot, according to a report.

Colon-Ortiz was "quickly apprehended," and the child was still in the vehicle and
unharmed, police said.

Colon-Ortiz was with several bags of suspected heroin, drug paraphernalia, and a large kitchen knife tucked into his waistband, according to a report.

Colon-Ortiz was charged with:

• Second-degree kidnapping
• Risk of injury to a child
• Possession of a controlled substance
• Possession of drug paraphernalia
• Carrying a dangerous weapon
• Illegal possession of a weapon in a motor vehicle
• Third-degree larceny
• Fifth-degree larceny
• Reckless driving
• Operating a motor vehicle without a license

Colon-Ortiz was being held on a $200,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 22.