BUENA PARK, Calif.—A minivan with a 2-year-old boy inside was stolen Sept. 13 from a Buena Park school, prompting authorities to issue an Amber Alert, but the boy was found safe a short time later.
According to Buena Park police, the gray 2017 Toyota Sienna was taken around 9:30 a.m. from outside the Emery School in the 8600 block of Somerset Street. The boy, Ian Eo, was inside the Sienna when it was taken, police said.
The boy’s mother was dropping something off at the school, and she ran inside with the vehicle running, Buena Park police Sgt. Chad Weaver said. She has another child enrolled at the school, Weaver said.
Just before 11 a.m., a woman living in the 9900 block of Chanticleer Road in an unincorporated area near Anaheim saw the minivan with its door open, found the boy inside and brought him into her home, and dialed 911, Weaver said. The boy was later reunited with his family at the Buena Park police station.
“Mom was upset, but they were very happy the kid was unharmed,” Weaver said.
A man was subsequently arrested on suspicion of trying to use credit cards stolen from the minivan, but it was unclear if that person stole the vehicle, Weaver said.
The person who took the van was described only as a roughly 40-year-old man.
