A two-year-old Salinas Valley boy was found safe Thursday afternoon after being the subject of an Amber Alert abduction earlier in the day.
The case started just before 7:00 a.m. Police said the boy, Jason Vargas, was sitting in a running car in front of his home in Soledad when it was stolen with the boy still in it.
The father told police he had run into the house quickly, only to find the car and his child missing when he returned.
A statewide Amber Alert was issued with regular reminders sent throughout the day. Somebody who had seen that information called 9-1-1 Thursday afternoon with information about the car's possible whereabouts.
The Monterey County Sheriff's Office said when deputies located the car and child, a window had to be broken to access the inside.
Commander John Thornburg told KCBX that he can only imagine how frightening this all must have been for the two year old.
"The kid had no injuries that we're aware of, however we did have fire and ambulance come out just to evaluate the child to make sure everything was okay," said Thornburg. "We will begin to assist in our part of the investigation to hopefully locate the person who took the vehicle."
The Sheriff's Office said Thursday that the Sheriff's Aero Squadron helped find the missing car and child using information from the citizen who called.