A man was arrested after he apparently stole a woman’s vehicle that was parked outside a dry cleaners in Plantation while her 10-year-old and 8-month-old daughters were still inside.
Travaughn Andre Gaines was arrested Saturday after, police said, he stole a vehicle parked in front of the One Price Dry Cleaners located at 8263 West Broward Boulevard around 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 15.
According to a warrant for his arrest, it was a rainy day when a woman was going back and forth from her vehicle to the dry cleaners. She left her car running with her children inside to try and quickly enter the dry cleaners.
But officers say that’s all the time Gaines needed to slip inside the vehicle and flee the scene.
Dry cleaners workers described the tense moment.
“A gentlemen that was pacing the parking lot, he just went into her car and drove off. There were children in the car and everything,” he said.
The woman immediately contacted police after realizing that her vehicle had been stolen and her children had been kidnapped.
The worker said he tried to help the woman secure her children.
“We started chasing the car but it was driving too fast. It drove to the Westside Hospital and took a right and it was gone,” he said.
Not long after, police received a 911 call from the Renaissance Hotel at 1230 S. Pine Island Road, where Gaines dropped the 10-year-old girl and her sister off and they asked for help from hotel workers.
The warrant stated that “…as the vehicle is leaving the parking lot the rear driver side door opens, indicating 10-year-old daughter is contemplating jumping from the moving car, but ultimately decides to remain inside with her 7-month-old sister.”
After dropping off the girls and dumping the car, police say Gaines began using the mother’s debit card. He took a cab to a smoke shop in Hollywood where police say he used his own name and then charged the card $120.
The clerk would later tell investigators he seemed nervous at the register.
Days later, Gaines would be arrested and appeared in court on Sunday.
The worker at the dry cleaners says he’s happy to hear the children are OK.
“That’s the most important thing. That’s what I cared about the most. I was really concerned about the children,” he said.
He remains behind bars at the Broward County Jail.
Gaines is charged with kidnapping a child under 13, confining a child under 13 without consent of a parent, grand theft auto, and grand theft between $10,000 and $20,000.
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