NEDERLAND, Texas — A 3-year-old boy is safe after police say a man stole an SUV with the child inside from a Nederland gas station Tuesday evening, triggering a frantic search that ended minutes later when the toddler was found on a Beaumont doorstep on a cold night.

Nederland Police Chief Rod Carroll said officers were called around 6:30 p.m. after a Dodge SUV was stolen from the Chevron at Nederland Avenue and Highway 69. The suspect, identified in a probable cause affidavit as 44-year-old Steve Williams of Port Arthur, allegedly drove off with the child still inside.

“Officers immediately responded and we were able to get information from a very distraught mother,” Carroll said.

Fourteen minutes later, a second call came in, saying the child had been found. Carroll said the boy wa

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