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SALT LAKE CITY — Isabel Ortega only left her daughter in a running van for a few seconds to check if her front door was locked Sunday morning.
In that time, the Dodge Caravan was stolen, with her 3- year-old daughter, Maya, inside. Ortega was about 20 yards away.
“It all happened so fast,” she said. “I went to check the (house) door and when I listened the van’s door closed.”
Ortega said she went to her neighbor’s house to call police and try to follow the van, but while she was gone the woman who stole the van returned with the vehicle and child. The van was stolen near 500 S. Concord St. at about 9:30 a.m., according to the Salt Lake City Police Department.
Idaly Proano, 22, noticed the child in the back seat after driving a few blocks and decided to turn around, investigators said. She parked the van where she found it, knocked on the door of the home and asked if she could wait for police, according to Lt. Scott White.
She certainly made a mistake stealing the van... but at some point obviously she had a change of heart and decided to do the right thing.
–White
“She certainly made a mistake stealing the van — certainly never the right choice to make — but at some point obviously she had a change of heart and decided to do the right thing and get the child home and get it safe instead of running,” he said. “It’s very rare that this happens.”
A similar incident occurred in December when another woman turned herself in after stealing a van and discovering a toddler in the back seat.
Officers found meth in Proano’s pants pocket and the mother’s phone inside Proano’s bra when she was searched after her arrest, according to a probable cause statement. She was arrested and booked in the Salt Lake County Jail on suspicion of stealing the van, theft of the phone and possession of a controlled substance.
Proano won’t be charged with attempted kidnapping because that wasn’t her intent when she stole the van, according to White. Ortega said the woman was crying and apologizing to her brother- in-law while she waited for police to arrive.
It was fortunate Proano didn’t abandon the vehicle with the child inside or wreck the van, White said.
“It certainly could have been tragic,” he said. “We could be looking for that child still, and thankfully we’re not.”
It was so scary. I don't want anyone else to feel what I was feeling.
–Ortega
The child was not injured during the incident and no damage was done to the van, according to investigators. Ortega, who also has three sons, said she ran to her daughter in the van as soon as she saw it parked on the street.
“She was playing with her book and toys, so I think she didn’t know what happened,” she said.
Ortega attributed the return of her daughter to God and said she was grateful Proano decided to come back. She said she wanted others to know they should never leave their children in a car, even if they are only leaving for a few seconds.
“It was so scary,” she said. “I don’t want anyone else to feel what I was feeling.”
White echoed Ortega’s warning and said children should be supervised at all times.
“You can’t leave them in running cars or even non-running cars,” he said. “We tell (people) to just take their kids out, take your pets out. You put them in, you can take them out. You’re responsible for them, and you’d feel horrible if anything were to happen to them.”
Contributing: Mary Richards and Sandra Yi
