Woman who stole SUV with baby inside sentenced

Associated Press, Published Saturday, September 13, 2008

ANOKA, Minn. (AP) - A woman has been sentenced to 160 days in

jail for stealing an SUV, with a baby inside, from a Columbia

Heights gas station.

Twenty-seven-year-old Catherine Lies will be on probation

for five years.

Lies pleaded guilty last week to theft of a motor vehicle. She

says she didn't know the 9-month-old baby was in the back seat when

she took the SUV on August 13th.

Lies said in court Friday that once she realized there was a

baby in the back seat, she stayed and watched the vehicle until

police found it.

The baby's mother had gone inside the gas station and left the

baby in the SUV. The baby was not hurt.

Another person who was with Lies at the time of the incident has

not been charged.


SHOULDN'T THE MOTHER BE CHARGED TOO FOR STUPIDITY??? YOU NEVER LEAVE A BABY ALONE IN A CAR!!!

I have actually stood beside cars with kids in them while the parents were inside so as to make sure they were okay...a friend of mine lost 3 of her children when she ran inside a friends house to use they phone...the youngest caught the car on fire....no child should EVER be left in a vehicle regardless of where they are....if it is too much bother to take them with you....DON"T HAVE KIDS!!!!!!!!

I agree the mother she have had some charges brought against her...

Im glad Im not the only one who thought this was upsetting! I mean...the car jacker had more sense to stay with the infant than the mother. Thank goodness the car jacker turned themselves in. Imagine if this parent had to learn the hard way.

I am sympathetic to parents who have to unbuckle and herd several children into the bank, grocery or drugstore.

It's a pain...love your kids all you want sometimes don't you wish you could go in and out quickly...but there is no excuse for leaving them, short of car-jacking inside a car.

The mother was negligent.

That said, the next time you are pissed because you are waiting in a gas line and see a mom take her kids inside to pay maybe you could show her some love? haha

funny how cultures are so different, over here parents leave their kids in the car (running), all the time....I guess its because it would never occur to anyone to steal a car with someones kids in it....

I dont know about charges, thus prosecution etc. I DO say she shuold be required to take a parenting course of some sort.

I know when my oldest was about 6 months old, being a new father and all, I left my son in the car (locked, and running witht he ac on as it was summer) so i could take something back inside. I could not carry both him AND the other item, and seeing as I was just going to be a minute, I figured no problem. Now I know better. I locked my keys in the car. I had to wait for his mother to come with her key to let me in (only five minutes or I would have broke the window on the oppsite side). police were called, and we all talked about it for a few minutes. I could have had neglect and endangerment charges pressed against me. however the officer, took into aco**** I was a new father, and obviously did nto mean any harm to the child. And no, just because you dont mean any harm doesnt mean anything necessarily.

but what I am getting at is simple, I was young and made a mistake. Did I repeat that mistake? Hell f'in no! Was the child actually harmed in any way? No. was there a need for me to go to jail for this? No.

instead of automatically jumping up and calling jail time, or prison time, step back, desensitize yourself a bit, and look at the entire picture. I can garuntee you (almost) that this young mother will never again leave her infant unnattended. i can garuntee you (again almost) that she will most likely ask for advise in the future, and maybe even look at parenting courses on her own.

Also, would hte baby benefit from being removed from the mothers care (or fathers) immediately and without question for this? made to grow up in a foster home, or relatives home (where they would most likely hear how bad a mother they had, etc.)Most likely not. So take a step back, relax a little, and ask what the BEST option is. Jail is not always the best option. removing a child in MOST cases is almost never the right answer, only in a few certain unarguable cases.

She DID learn the hard way. Do you honestly think she is going to leave her infant like that again? not very likely. Thankfully she did nt learn the hardEST way.

Lucky the kid didn't have to learn in the hardEST way...She should be charged with at least Child Endangerment...

why? Why should hse be "punished" more than she already was? And that is exactly what yuo are suggesting is punishing her.

the legal system, is not supposed to be for punishiment, it is supposed to be for rehabilitating a person so they learn to not do what they did wrong the first time.

In this case, the woman has already "learned her lesson", thus anything else would not be beneficial to either the mother or the child.

Remember the important question is the welfare of the child,NOT beating a dead dog. If she has learned her lesson and is not going to repeat this mistake, then there is nothing that she can benefitt from if she is prosecuted.