By WMBD TV
PEORIA – An Ohio man, who sparked a large manhunt last fall after stealing a car with 3-year-old child inside from a North Peoria rental facility, pleaded guilty Thursday.
Victor Farris, 46, pleaded in Peoria County Circuit Court during a pretrial hearing and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. His trial on charges of kidnapping, aggravated vehicular hijacking and possession of a stolen motor vehicle, was to be in two weeks.
Instead, that’s off the table as Farris pleaded to the counts of aggravated vehicular hijacking and kidnapping in connection with the Sept. 4 incident.
He is eligible for day for day “good-time” credit which means that with credit for time already served, he could get out of prison in about seven years.
On the morning of Sept. 4, 2024, prosecutors have said Farris was dressed in business attire, complete with a button-down shirt and tie when approached a man who had rented a car at the facility. A young boy, 3, was already strapped into the backseat of a Kia SUV.
Somehow, Farris convinced the man to get out of the car and walk toward the building with him before he turned and jumped into the vehicle and tried to drive off. The man — the boy’s uncle — then leaped onto the side of the car, holding on the air and managed to land a punch on Farris, according to prosecutors last fall.
At that hearing in October, a prosecutor said the boy’s uncle was screaming a child was in the back seat but Farris, the prosecutor said, put the car into drive and then reverse, trying to shake the man off the car.
He finally did — in the middle of Pioneer Parkway and then sped away.
What followed then was a massive manhunt involving drones, license plate reader cameras, tips from the public and dozens of police officers looking for the car and the child who was screaming in the back seat.
Officers later found the boy, alone, at a gas station off Airport Road. He was unharmed. The vehicle was found a bit later too at a house in Bartonville.
Tips from the public had Farris on the Rock Island Trail as it passes near the villages of Dunlap and Princeville so deputies from the Peoria County Sheriff’s Office and officers from other agencies went there to look.
At one point, a deputy saw Farris on the trail but given that he was alone and given that they had been warned that he might be armed, the officer pulled his weapon, ordered Farris down at gunpoint and then while he was radioing for help, Farris made his break, dashing into the woods and then into the cornfields, according to court records.
Dogs, drones, deputies and other officers were used for several hours to scour the area but they didn’t find him. They did find a jacket, however, with his cell phone and his wallet which had his ID as well as credit cards.
He was later caught after jumping off a train near Des Moines, Iowa almost two weeks later.
Despite the plea, his legal woes in the area aren’t over. He’s got a pending case in Woodford County stemming from an incident about a week earlier involving an alleged drunk driving charge as well as a possession of a stolen vehicle count.
That case has been on hold and awaiting the outcome of the Peoria County matter.
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