SAN ANTONIO – The man accused of stealing a car in which a 3-year-old boy was in is facing criminal charges in two counties.
Victor Miguel Torres, 31, remains in custody in Fayette County, where he was captured Monday. He's been jailed there on a charge of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.
Torres will return to Bexar County at a later date to face charges, including kidnapping, officials said.
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The suspect drove off Tuesday afternoon in a car that the child's mother had left running while she went into a West Side business to pick up her boyfriend, police said.
Josue Gonzalez, 3, was asleep in the back seat at the time.
"I saw a bunch of (police) cars down the street and I said, 'Well, wait a minute. What's going on?" said Brenda Reyes, who lives near the scene of the car theft. "We got scared, so we went running over there to the store. And then I heard from everybody that it was a kid that was taken."
An Amber Alert was issued within minutes of the child's disappearance.
A few hours later, someone more than 100 miles away in La Grange, spotted the car and called authorities.
Deputies arrested Torres and recovered the child, who was reported to be unharmed. He was returned to his mother.
"Thank God that he's OK, though," Reyes said. "He's alive, and everything and he got to see his mom and his dad."
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Reyes said she is a mother and understands how Josue's mother must have felt.
But she has trouble understanding how the toddler was left alone.
"I wake (my children) up and take them with me. Definitely. I would never ever leave my car running. No," she said.
Lt. David Beyer, a spokesman for the Fayette County Sheriff's Office, said it's unclear when Torres will be returned to San Antonio, since he also faces a charge there.
Beyer said authorities in both counties will have to work together to make that call.