Texas ex-con accused of stealing vehicle from Walmart parking lot as teen slept inside

FRANKLIN, Ky. – A man who was recently released from a Texas prison is accused of kidnapping a sleeping teen while stealing a vehicle from the Walmart parking lot in Franklin.

Tuesday night a Franklin police officer spotted a car traveling 60 mph in a 45 mph zone on U.S. 31-W toward Interstate 65. The officer stopped the car and identified the driver as David Davis, 33, of Texas, according to a release from Franklin Police Department.

The officer asked for consent to search the vehicle and said he found suspected marijuana, drug paraphernalia and an open alcoholic beverage container in addition to a sleeping 14-year-old boy. Officers woke the boy up and he said the last thing he remembered was being asleep in his parents car in the Walmart parking lot while they was inside shopping, according to Franklin police.

Police quickly learned they had recovered a stolen car and a kidnapped child, according to the release.

The teen told police he started the car to keep it warm and didn’t realize the car had left the parking lot, according to Davis’ arrest citation.

After being taken into police custody, Davis told police he had just been released from prison, was living on the streets and had been cold and hungry, according to his arrest citation. He said he consumed at least a pint of vodka and a couple of other drinks. When he saw the running vehicle in the parking lot, he saw it as an opportunity and planned to try to make it to Texas, according to the citation.

Davis told police he had no knowledge of the sleeping teen inside the car, according to his citation.

Davis was charged with speeding 15 mph or more, kidnapping a minor, operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs, theft by unlawful taking of an automobile $10,000 or more, license to be in possession, possession of an open alcoholic beverage in a motor vehicle, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

CORRECTION: This story has been corrected from an earlier version. Davis told police he had no knowledge of the sleeping teen in the vehicle.