PEORIA, Ill. – The man behind a nearly two week manhunt after taking a vehicle with a child inside it in Peoria has pleaded guilty.
The Peoria County State’s Attorney’s Office says 46-year-old Victor Farris pleaded guilty Thursday to Aggravated Vehicular Hijacking and Kidnapping. He was sentenced to 15 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
Peoria Police responded to the Enterprise Car Rental on Pioneer Parkway on September 4th last year after a three-year-old child was left inside a vehicle, then kidnapped.
The child’s uncle was picking a vehicle up and placed the child in the backseat.
Prosecutors say Farris, dressed in business attire, claimed to work for Enterprise and approached the uncle, telling him he needed to go back in the store. Farris then entered the vehicle and drove off with the three-year-old inside it.
The child was later found safe later in the day at a Bartonville gas station, with Farris evading police for 12 days after hopping on a train to Iowa.
Farris was sentenced to 15 years on the hijacking charge, and seven years on the kidnapping charge. Farris will serve both sentences at the same time.
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