Defendant Pleads Guilty for Stealing a Car With a Child Inside

January 23, 2025, Peoria, IL - Today, Victor Farris, 46, pleaded guilty to Aggravated Vehicular Hijacking and Kidnapping for stealing a vehicle with a young child in the back seat this past summer. Farris was sentenced to 15 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

On September 4, 2024, police responded to a report of a stolen vehicle with a 3-year-old child inside at Enterprise Car Rental on Pioneer Parkway in Peoria. Upon arrival, officers spoke with the child's uncle, who was there to pick up a rental car. He had placed the child in the car seat in the back and was sitting in the driver's seat when he was approached by Farris, who was dressed in business attire. Farris claimed to work for Enterprise and told the uncle that he needed to go back inside the store. While the uncle stepped out, Farris jumped into the car and drove off with the child inside.

This prompted a county-wide search for both the child and the vehicle. Farris managed to evade the police and jumped on a train to Iowa, where he was arrested 12 days later. Fortunately, the child was dropped off unharmed at a gas station in Bartonville shortly after the car was stolen.

Farris was sentenced to 15 years on the aggravated vehicular hijacking charge and seven years for the kidnapping and is to be served at the same time.

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