A 4-year-old girl was snatched from a California fast food restaurant while waiting to have lunch with her grandmother — prompting an all-hands search that found the child and her alleged kidnapper in a nearby hotel, authorities reported.
A homeless woman arrested on the scene was charged in the grl's disappearance, police said.
The child was waiting for her grandmother to pay for their meal at a Panda Express restaurant in downtown Santa Monica when she was lured away shortly after noon on Friday.
The unidentified grandmother frantically called 911 when she returned to their table and discovered the girl was missing.
Cops rushed to the scene and obtained surveillance images of the preschooler and her alleged kidnapper, police said in a prepared statement.
"All available field resources, including more than 30 sworn and civilian personnel, flooded the area, searching for the subject, described as a heavyset white female in her 30s," police said.
About 30 minutes later, officers found the girl with suspect Breanna Shields, 31, in a room at the Holiday Motel, according to police. They believed Shields has been staying at the motel for an extended period.
"Thankfully, the child was unharmed and the suspect was taken into custody," the police statement said. "Our heartfelt best wishes go out to the child and her family as they deal with the shock of this ordeal."
Shields, described in news reports as homeless, was charged with kidnapping and faces an enhanced sentence of up to 11 years in prison because the victim was under 14.
The alleged kidnapping was among a series of recent incidents involving homeless people in Santa Monica, a coastal city west of Los Angeles, according to local TV station KTTV.
They include the attempted drowning of a woman near the Santa Monica Pier last month and an attack on a 73-year-old woman who was pushed to the ground while on her daily morning walk in May.
