PLANTATION, Fla. — A man was arrested last weekend by Seminole police, days after he allegedly stole a vehicle outside of a dry cleaners in Broward County while two young sisters were inside the vehicle, authorities said.
According to an arrest warrant obtained Wednesday by Local 10 News, the Plantation Police Department received a call just before 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 15 about stolen vehicle and kidnapping.
Police said Travaughn Andre Gaines, 45, stole a vehicle that was parked in front of One Price Dry Cleaners, located at 8263 W. Broward Blvd.
The woman who owns the vehicle told police that her daughters, ages 10 and 8 months old, were still inside the car.
According to the warrant, the woman said she was going back and forth from her vehicle to the dry cleaners while it was raining, placing clothing inside her car, when an unknown man, later identified as Gaines, entered the driver’s side, backed out of the parking space and fled the area at a high rate of speed.
Police immediately began circulating the area and soon received a call from an employee at the Renaissance Hotel on South Pine Island Road, who said that a 10-year-old girl, who was carrying a baby, said she had just been dropped off at the hotel by a Black male.
According to the warrant, surveillance video captured the vehicle theft and kidnapping.
Police said the older girl opened the car door at one point and contemplated jumping out, but ultimately decided to stay inside the car with her baby sister.
According to the warrant, employees at a McDonald’s on South University Drive said a Black male had entered the fast food restaurant shortly after the kidnapping and asked them to call him a cab. He appeared to be nervous and was sweating and panting, they said.
Police said they then responded to the location where the cab driver dropped him off at, but they could not locate him.
According to the warrant, the 10-year-old girl told police that Gaines was searching for money inside the car and asked where her mother’s purse was at. He did not touch the children during the incident, police confirmed.
Gaines was arrested Saturday by Seminole police and faces multiple charges, including kidnapping a child under 13, confining a child under 13 without consent of a parent, grand theft auto and grand theft of more than $10,000 but less than $20,000.
As of Wednesday morning, he was being held at the Broward County Main Jail without bond.
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