Man convicted of stealing car with toddler and dog inside

A 35-year-old Mission Viejo man has been convicted of stealing a car with a toddler and a pet dog inside as a pregnant mother went to retrieve her son’s sippy cup.

The woman, who was seven months’ pregnant, was getting ready to leave her home in October 2011 when James Christopher Corr, 35, walked into her Aliso Viejo neighborhood, according to an Orange County district attorney’s news release.

Shortly after 8 a.m., she loaded the family’s pet Saint Bernard into a caged-off area of her Volvo. She strapped her 2-year-old son into his safety seat. She placed her keys in the car. But she forgot one item, her son’s sippy cup.

She went back into her house to get the cup, but in the moments she disappeared, Corr entered the open garage, got into the driver’s seat and backed out.

He had already stolen a purse from a parked car in a different location that morning, prosecutors said.

The woman returned to the garage as Corr reversed. She began to scream and tried to save her crying son. The driver knocked her to the ground with the vehicle, backing up so rapidly, it left skid marks.

The open door near where the child sat, which she had left open, slammed into a neighbor’s garage.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department ultimately intercepted Corr when, at some point, Corr jumped from the driver’s seat and began to run through the back yards of homes.

He tried to open the door of one house with pruning shears, but failed.

Meanwhile, the car Corr abandoned remained running and had hit a curb. A neighbor, who had witnessed the events and pursued Corr, stopped to help the child and dog still inside.

Corr was found guilty Tuesday of one misdemeanor count and 11 felony counts. Corr had a prior prison conviction in Nevada and faces a maximum sentence of life in state prison.

He sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 4.

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