Man steals car with 3-year-old inside, abandons boy at hotel in another state, cops say

Julia Marnin
·3 min read
46

A man stole a car with a 3-year-old boy in the backseat while the vehicle was parked and running outside of a Massachusetts home, state police said.

Vadim Vorobyov, a 52-year-old Springfield resident, is accused of getting in the car and driving off with the boy around 8:40 a.m. in Chicopee on March 29, according to a Massachusetts State Police news release.

An Amber alert was issued that morning as authorities believed the car the boy was in was traveling south to Connecticut, according to a Massachusetts State Police post shared to X, formerly known as Twitter.

The car belonged to the boy’s mother, who reported him missing, officials said, according to Masslive.

About two hours later, authorities located the stolen car at a shopping plaza in Connecticut, but the boy was nowhere to be found — until a call came in from a nearby hotel, police said.

The boy is found

Authorities learned Vorobyov had abandoned the boy in the parking lot of the Rodeway Inn & Suites in East Windsor before driving away, according to police. The hotel is about a 15 mile drive south from where he’s accused of stealing the car in Massachusetts.

Information regarding Vorobyov’s legal representation wasn’t immediately available.

Sudhir Shrestha, the hotel’s manager, told McClatchy News on April 1 that one of his customers found the boy alone while he was walking his dog.

The customer notified the front desk, then Shrestha had the boy brought inside and immediately called police, he said.

Officers and state troopers “rushed to the hotel shortly after 10:30 am and found the child safe and unharmed,” police said.

When Shrestha reviewed the hotel’s security footage with the police, he said he was “shocked” to see a car had dropped the boy off on the hotel’s property before the customer found him.

He said he didn’t know about the Amber Alert until the police responded to the hotel.

Meanwhile, Vorobyov was found inside of a business at the shopping plaza where the stolen car was located, according to Connecticut State Police.

He was arrested on charges of second-degree kidnapping, risk of injury, first-degree reckless endangerment and first-degree larceny, a criminal information summary says.

Shrestha said he feels Vorobyov “needs to get a big punishment.”

Vorobyov was held on a $2 million cash/surety bond and due to appear in Hartford Superior Court April 1, according to the criminal information summary.

In Massachusetts, he’s expected to be charged with kidnapping, child endangerment, and motor vehicle larceny, state police said.

It is unknown if Vorobyov knew the boy was inside the car when he stole it, Chicopee Officer Travis Odiorne said at a March 29 news briefing, Masslive reported.

Camera technology in Chicopee “played a pivotal role in gathering information” and tracking down Vorobyov, Odiorne said, according to the outlet.

Preacher’s wife and her friend vanish as their vehicle is found abandoned, OK cops say

4-year-old disappears from apartment and body is found day later, Washington cops say

Missing 3-year-old is found covered in sores, unable to eat, MN cops say. Mom charged

Local parent joins search for missing 11-year-old — then sees ‘flash of pink’ in woods