ROCKFORD — A 13-year-old Rockford boy has been arrested after he allegedly swiped a running car from a store parking lot on Monday evening —with a sleeping child inside.

Rockford police were sent shortly after 5 p.m. Monday to the Dollar General store, 2500 S. Alpine Road, after a woman reported leaving the car running and unlocked in the parking lot, where it was stolen, according to police. The woman’s 8-year-old daughter was sleeping in the car when it was swiped.

Police found the car a few minutes later driving westbound near Charles and 19th streets and the teen driver was arrested, Lt. Kurt Whisenand said in a release. But the sleeping girl wasn’t inside.

The teen dropped the girl off at Alpine and Louisiana roads, where a man allowed her to use his phone and then took her to be reunited with a family member. The girl wasn’t injured, Whisenand said.

The teenage boy was charged with conspiracy to commit auto theft and possession of a stolen vehicle and booked into the Winnebago County Juvenile Detention Center, Whisenand said.

Rockford police thanked the man, whom they didn’t name, for helping reunite the girl with her family.

Kristen Zambo: 815-987-1339; kzambo@rrstar.com; @KristenZambo