An alleged carjacker apparently got much more than he bargained for Sunday when the car he stole from a Hungry Horse church parking lot included a sleeping toddler.
According to Sheriff Chuck Curry, Isaiah Lee Maura, a 22-year-old Kalispell-area transient, allegedly stole a car from the Hungry Horse Chapel parking lot shortly after 10:30 a.m. on Oct. 28. The owner of the vehicle was dropping something off at the church and had left their sleeping 2-year-old child in the back seat.
Maura apparently got into the vehicle and drove off with the sleeping toddler. Possibly realizing he just wanted the car and not the toddler, Maura allegedly pulled into the nearby Zip Trip gas station parking lot, gave the child to a construction worker and asked that they “get him back to his parents.” Maura then drove away.
The construction worker who took the toddler called 911 at just about the same time the 2-year-old’s panicked parents also called law enforcement. The toddler was returned to his parents uninjured.
A description of the stolen vehicle was broadcast to area law enforcement and soon after it was spotted by a Columbia Falls Police officer near Super One Foods. As the officer tried to pull the vehicle over, Maura allegedly crashed the car into another vehicle. No one was injured in the collision and Maura was taken into custody without incident.
Maura has been charged with kidnapping, child endangerment and criminal endangerment. He is currently incarcerated at the Flathead County Detention Center.