Arrest made after thief steals car with children inside


9 photos
Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — A man was arrested Wednesday after police say he drove off in a stolen car with two sleeping children in the back seat.

A woman, who was a relative of the children, was parked at Little Caesars, 805 S. 900 West, about 3:45 p.m. and left the car running while she went in to pick up some pizzas, Salt Lake City Police detective Mike Hamideh said.

A 2-year-old and a 3-year-old were asleep in the back seat, he said.

"A woman pulled up to the pizza place, went in, and it was just that time to get the pizzas," Hamideh said. "Our indication was that this was a very short period of time, nothing that's appearing unreasonable."

While the woman was inside, Jeremy Ohm, 24, drove off in the car, Hamideh said. An officer spotted Ohm near 250 South and 500 West, about 1.5 miles away, and signaled for him to stop.

Ohm did not attempt to flee, but he didn't stop immediately, Hamideh said.

Ohm was taken into custody without incident, and the children were returned safely, he said. There was no connection between Ohm and the mother.

Ohm struck a car as he drove off in the stolen vehicle and will be investigated for a hit-and-run accident, vehicle theft and kidnapping, Hamideh said.

The relative was inside the store for a short time and likely won't face any neglect charges, but "there's a bit of a cautionary tale here," Hamideh said.

"A lot of times we believe we can quickly run in and run an errand and leave the children in the car," he said. "That's dangerous on two accounts. "One being this case, and another being that if that car wasn't left running, in this kind of heat, that could be very dangerous for the children."

Video Contributing: Devon Dolan

Photos

Related stories

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

Utah
Peter Samore and McKenzie Romero

    STAY IN THE KNOW

    Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
    By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

    KSL Weather Forecast