Calling him the "youngest auto thief in the history of our department," Modesto police said the Marshall School third-grader fished his teacher's car key from her purse Monday while her back was turned in class. After school, he drove her gold Dodge Caravan several blocks but less than a mile to his west Modesto home.
The boy parked on the street and went inside his home, officer Michael Amarillas said. Police did not release the boy's name or address.
The boy apparently did not hit anything, and nobody was hurt.
But the theft did not go unnoticed. A woman in the neighborhood saw the boy driving and called police some time after 4 p.m., Amarillas said.
Police are accustomed to dealing with car thieves in Modesto, which has the nation's highest per capita auto theft rate. But they are short on experience dealing with 8-year-old suspects.
Officers "interviewed and lectured" the boy, then released him to his parents, Amarillas said. No charges were filed.
"This is absolutely rare," Amarillas said. "I mean, how was he driving it? This kid is 8 years old; you're thinking, 'How tall is an 8-year old?' "
Not very tall, according to teacher Caren Brady, the theft victim.
"This is the smallest child you can ever imagine," said Brady, who noticed her minivan was gone around 4:30 p.m. "I don't think this kid is 4 feet tall. He's tiny, he's the tiniest kid in the class."
The boy apparently managed to drive the minivan by adjusting the seat up and the steering wheel down, Brady said. He also adjusted the rearview mirror so he could see out the back, and turned off the radio for the drive home, she said.
It was not known if the boy wore his seat belt. There was no visible damage to the minivan, Brady said, and nothing was missing from inside.
Police do not know the boy's route home. Amarillas said they do not think he crossed busy Paradise Road, two blocks north of the school, nor do they believe he navigated any intersections with traffic lights.
When asked why he took his teacher's van, the boy said he "just wanted to drive around for a while," Amarillas said.
Because no one was hurt, police and school officials were able to joke about the odd theft.
"You can't do anything but laugh," Brady said. "It's just incredible."
"He did a fine job driving home, he never hit anything," Principal Rolanda Desrosiers-Lewis said. "But thank goodness he did not hit anything, thank goodness nobody was injured."
The child is probably not laughing. Desrosiers-Lewis said the boy was disciplined, although she would not specify the punishment.
Brady said the boy was suspended, adding that she would not allow him back in her classroom because she doesn't trust him -- "for some reason."
The bizarre theft turned into a teaching tool, said Brady, who spent 90 minutes of class time Tuesday discussing choices and consequences with her pupils.
"The message was, the choices you make can have bad consequences," Brady said. "Everyone has the power of choice. Just like this kid had the power of choice to steal my car."
Brady added that she worries for the child's future.
"Where do you go after stealing a car? What's next? What would you do for your next crime?" she said. "The biggest thing is nobody was hurt. But what about this child? What does he have to look forward to if he's already stealing at his age? That just kills me."
