Police arrested a Fayetteville man Thursday after he allegedly kidnapped a baby boy while stealing the mother’s vehicle.
Kelly Jendeski, 31, was arrested on suspicion of felony kidnapping, endangering the welfare of a minor and theft of a motor vehicle. He was booked into the Washington County Detention Center awaiting a bond hearing. He has a court date set for Friday, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.
Police responded Thursday morning to West End apartments in Fayetteville, where a woman told officers Jendeski, her neighbor, had stolen her Jeep Compass and taken her one-year-old son, according to a preliminary report from the Washington County Prosecutor’s Office.
Officers found Jendeski driving the woman’s vehicle about an hour later, police said. The missing baby boy was found sitting in the front passenger seat without any restraints, according to Fayetteville police. The child was unharmed.
The woman told police she had picked up Jendeski from Washington Regional Medical Center, where he was seeking treatment, when she drove him back to her apartment. She went to a back room, and when she returned, she noticed Jendeski had taken her son and vehicle, police said.
