A car was stolen in Riverhead on Christmas night with a 7-year-old asleep in the backseat. The vehicle was left unlocked and running.
According to Riverhead Town police, the incident took place on Monday around 11:00 p.m.
The mother of the child parked her car in a space outside of stationery store on East Main Street while she went into the shop, leaving her child inside. While she was in the store, someone entered the vehicle and drove off with the child, police said.
After an extensive search by the Riverhead Town Police Department, Southampton Town Police Department and the New York State Troopers, the vehicle was located in Flanders with the child still sleeping and unharmed, The car thief is still on the loose. Police arrested the mother and charged her with endangering the welfare of a child.