Prosecutors have dropped criminal charges against a 25-year-old man arrested last month by LAPD officers, accused of stealing a woman’s car, outside a Starbucks coffee shop in Van Nuyswith her one-year-old son inside, according to court and court records.
The man had faced charges of auto theft, kidnapping and child endangerment and was being held in lieu of $1million bond, but was released on his own recognizance on 18 FEBRUARY.
The criminal charges were dismissed on February 24, “in the interests of justice,” according to the records.
The minor was inside a car stolen from Van Nuys. The mother went out to ask for a coffee in a store when she was attacked by a man who fled with the vehicle.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said the case was dismissed, “based on video evidence establishing that the defendant was not the suspect.”
Multiple law enforcement sources told sister station NBC4’s I-Team that detectives realized shortly after the arrest that three witnesses had ‘misidentified’ the 25-year-old when the SUV robbed stopped.
Detectives have since developed several leads on the carjacker’s true identity and are working to locate the person, the sources said.
The car theft took place on February 7. when Laurina Espósito said she stopped at a Starbucks at the intersection of Woodman Avenue and Sherman Way to pick up an online order.
The boy’s father said the thief pushed Esposito out of the way and drove off in his Ford Escape.
An eyewitness said the thief hit his car as he was fleeing the Starbucks, so he followed the stolen SUV and called police, who found the car about 15 minutes later near the Woodman intersection Avenue and Saticoy Street in Panorama City.
This is where Esposito met his sonwho was not injured, and officers arrested the man who witnesses said was the driver.
This story first appeared on Telemundo 52’s sister station NBCLA. Click here to read this story in English.