By Nate Walsh

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WGGB) -- A 1-year-old baby has been found safe after a car thief allegedly stole the car in which she had been sleeping while her mother used a laundromat telephone late Thursday night.

According to Springfield Police Department Sgt. John Delaney, the 20-year-old mother had left the young girl sleeping in a car seat in the back of her running red 1999  Mitsubishi Gallant while she went into Laundro Max, located at 57 Allen St., around 10:45 p.m. to make a quick call.

"She took her eye off her car for a second and when she looked back her car was stolen," states Delaney in a release sent to the media.

Witnesses allegedly saw the car traveling down White Street toward East Longmeadow, and a large police search got underway, according to Delaney. He said Springfield police had started the process for issuing an Amber Alert.

The alert was not issued, however. Springfield police officers Joe Moran and Brian Beliveau located the car parked behind A Touch of Garlic restaurant on the intersection of Sumner Avenue and White Street with the baby girl inside safe and calm, according to Delaney. Medical workers were called to the scene to check the baby as a precaution, according to police.

After reviewing surveillance video from the area, police have described the suspect as a white man who had been seen wearing a hooded sweatshirt with a long white T-shirt under it with black loose-fitting jeans.

No arrests had been made in the incident as of Friday morning.