Jumpy NYC crook steals car, but returns it when he finds 9-year-old inside: sources

A crook with a snake tattoo on his neck showed his sentimental side when he stole a minivan in Harlem — then returned it when he found a terrified 9-year-old girl in the back seat, cops and sources said.

A 56-year-old man had just unloaded his younger daughter, 7, from his gray Honda Odyssey at East 107th Street and Third Avenue in East Harlem around 2:30 a.m. Sunday when the creep hopped behind the wheel and drove off, according to authorities and police sources.

The frantic dad flagged down NYPD cops on the street, who launched their search for the thief, police said.

But while cops were canvassing the area, the suspect – apparently realizing the older girl was still in the car – whipped back around the block and returned the minivan to the same location, cops and sources said.

He parked the car and ran off on foot, the sources said.

The girl was unharmed, police said.

But the perpetrator – described as a man in his 40s with a snake tattoo on his neck, last seen wearing a white T-shirt and tan pants – had not yet been caught Monday, the sources said.

In a similar case back in May, a stranger drove off in an SUV with a 2-year-old boy inside in Brownsville, Brooklyn, cops said. 

The boy’s 32-year-old mom stepped into a deli on Sutter Avenue near Van Sinderen Avenue when 34-year-old Maurice Stephens got behind the wheel and drove off with the toddler, police said.

The tot was saved within 10 minutes when cops pulled over the joyrider about a mile away, authorities said. 

Last Thanksgiving, Mohamed Sakho, 22, allegedly swiped a car with a 7-year-old boy inside in the Country Club section of the Bronx, cops said. 

The boy was recovered safely and Sakho was arrested for the crime a day later when cops picked him up for an unrelated robbery, authorities said.