WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. — Lexington County deputies have arrested a man after they received a call about a stolen car with a child inside.
Investigators say the car was stolen from a gas station some time before 12:30 p.m. Wednesday. About 15 minutes later, deputies arrested the suspect on Platt Springs Road near Ramblin Road in West Columbia.
According to LCSD, deputies searched the surrounding neighborhoods and located the stolen vehicle 30 minutes later.
The child, who was three-years-old, was asleep in the backseat according to the arrest warrant. Herrera attempted to give the child away at the San Jose restaurant on Platt Springs Road.
The child was found unharmed and was reunited with her mother.
"Deputies responded to a call shortly after noon after a vehicle was reported stolen with a young child inside," Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon said. "A woman entered 'The Store,' a gas station at the corner of Highway 6 and Mimosa Drive in Gaston." When she returned to the parking lot, the vehicle was missing, according to Koon.
The suspect in this case has been identified as 39-year-old Robert Lee Herrera.
Herrera's bond has been denied.
News 19 learned a group of Good Samaritans is to thank for tracking down Herrera.
"I was driving by and I saw that a Lexington County officer had a truck pulled over in a parking lot [at the church]," said Michael Reese, a former corrections officer who happened upon the scene Wednesday.
Reese says when saw a deputy trying to handcuff a man outside Christ Center Church off Platt Springs Road and Ramblin Road, he had to stop and help.
"I couldn't just drive by then see something might happen later on that turned out worse."
Four other men, he says, did the same.
"He was on his back originally and we had to flip him over onto his stomach because the cop had one of his hands already handcuffed," said Reese.
Reese learned two men who also helped take Herrera to the ground were approached by him just minutes before.
"They just told me the guy pulled over - I think they were at a church - and the guy pulled over and said, 'Hey, I need you to take this baby,' and they said, 'What are you talking about? We're not gonna take that baby'. Then the guy took off and they thought it was kind of strange, so they started following him and apparently called 911. That's when they ended up pulling him over [by the church]," said Reese.
News 19 witnessed Hererra being placed in the back of a Lexington County patrol car. As that happened, we also captured the moments when the child was reunited safely with a guardian. See attached video to watch.
Detectives said charges for Herrera are forthcoming.