ROCHESTER, N.Y. -- A 19-year-old is accused of stealing a car Monday with a five-year-old child inside.
Jarrett Gross Jr. pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree kidnapping, endangering the welfare of a child and grand larceny at his arraignment Tuesday morning.
Around 3 p.m. Monday, police said a mother ran into School No. 34 on Lexington Avenue to pick up a student, and when she came out, her 1999 Honda Accord was gone.
The mother, Tara Lyons, did not want to be on camera, but Tuesday she did want to say she was sorry for leaving her son Luis in the car while she ran inside the school to pick up her older daughter.
"I wish I never did it. It was too cold to bring him out. I had the car running because of the heat,” Lyons said.
As authorities searched, an off-duty officer spotted the car on Argo Park, just a few blocks away from where it was stolen, with Luis inside and alone. He was not injured.
Police were getting ready to issue an Amber Alert when off-duty police officer Jason Leckinger found the car. According to court paperwork, that was 80 minutes after Gross abandoned it, and little Luis was still sitting in the back seat. Police said it was 18 degrees out and Luis was shaking and cold.
In a statement he gave to police, Gross told them he saw the car with the engine running, waited for Lyonsto walk away, and jumped in. He talks about driving around and taking Lyons' cell phone and cigarettes. Lyons later showed us the pictures he took of himself with her phone.
Gross said in his statement, "I knew it was wrong of me to take the car," but he told police he didn't know a child was in the backseat and learned of that on the news. That's what his friends told us outside court today too.
"He didn't know a kid was in the car," said Michael, a friend. "He feels bad. He didn't know a kid was in the car.
"This happens every couple years in every kind of state, and there's no reason he should get charged with kidnapping."
Police investigators said this is a lesson for everyone: never leave your car with the engine running, and never, ever leave your children or pets inside.
"It's so dangerous," said Investigator Jackie Shuman. "Fortunately, in that situation, the child was unharmed and returned back to his parent."
"I told him, I would never leave him in the car again. It was just that one time," Lyons said.
Lyons said Luis is doing well. She says she's learned a lesson she wants to share:
"Take your kids with you."
Gross is being held in jail on $50,000 bail. He's scheduled to be back in court Friday.