A woman accused of snatching a 3-year-old Temecula boy and using his father’s vehicle to make her getaway was charged Tuesday with child stealing and other felonies.
Jessica Emily Reichert, 52, was arrested Thursday, hours after the alleged abduction in the 29600 block of Solana Way, just east of Interstate 15.
Along with child stealing, Reichert is charged with child abuse, auto theft and felony evading. She is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail at the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside and was slated to make her initial court appearance Tuesday afternoon at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta.
According to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, the abduction occurred at about 11 a.m. Thursday at the home of the victim, though the circumstances were unclear, including what connection, if any, Reichert had to the child and his family.
Investigators alleged that the defendant grabbed the boy, identified in court documents only by the initials “T.H.,” and fled in his father’s 2004 Jaguar XJ.
Alerts were broadcast after the man reported the alleged kidnapping, culminating in a nearly three-hour search that ended on Sage Road in Aguanga, where patrol deputies spotted the car, according to investigators.
The driver — later identified as Reichert — failed to stop, instead heading west into Temecula, eventually pulling over in the 32100 block of Temecula Parkway, where she was taken into custody without further incident, sheriff’s officials said.
The child was uninjured and was returned home.
A possible motive for the alleged kidnapping was not disclosed.
Reichert has no documented felony or misdemeanor convictions in Riverside County.