Summerville Baby Taken From Car Found, Teenager Charged With Kidnapping

A newborn baby boy from Summerville was snatched from an idling car in a North Charleston post office parking lot was found safe early Wednesday and a female teenager was in custody in his kidnapping, police said.

Investigators tracked down the 1-month-old infant, Angel Miguel Perez, at a home in Summerville at about 12:30 a.m., said North Charleston police spokesman Spencer Pryor.

A 19-year-old woman was arrested and charged with kidnapping, Pryor said. Police identified her at a Wednesday news conference as Andrea Simone Walker and said she began following the baby’s mother, 26-year-old Lidia Juarez, at some point on Monday.

Juarez said she stopped at a North Charleston post office on Monday afternoon and left the infant in the car with its engine running while she went inside to buy stamps.

Juarez told police she was in the post office less than five minutes. When she came back to her car, her son was gone.

A woman was spotted running across the parking lot with a baby, according to media reports.

Police said Walker was able to get into Juarez’s vehicle while she was in the post office and remove baby Angel from his car seat. Walker then fled the area.

State officials issued an Amber Alert for the child late Monday and local, state and federal authorities asked for public help in the search Tuesday.

North Charleston and Summerville officers were acting on a tip when they went to the house where the child was found, Pryor said.

The boy was taken to the Medical University of South Carolina hospital in Charleston for an evaluation and then was reunited with his parents.

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