ST. PAUL
The man who stole a car with a baby in the back seat and then ditched the child in a cold Maplewood, Minn., parking lot was sentenced Wednesday to 13 years and three months in prison.
In sentencing Brandon Joseph Houge, 34, Ramsey County District Judge Gary Bastian considered that 11-month-old Ayden Hoang was left outside during the Dec. 22, 2010, incident.
The temperature that night, according to police, was 22 degrees.
Houge, a career criminal formerly of North St. Paul, told police he was "really high" on methamphetamine when he stole the car in St. Paul.
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He pleaded guilty to auto theft and kidnapping.
The vehicle had been left running outside the baby's home in the 2000 block of East Magnolia Avenue.
The father told police he had been gone about 20 seconds as he ran inside to retrieve a Christmas shopping coupon.
When he returned, the car and his son were gone.
Houge noticed the child in the back seat after he'd driven several blocks.
He took the baby out of the car and left him, in his car seat, near a trash can next to garages at a Maplewood apartment complex. The baby was found about 90 minutes later when apartment residents heard him crying. He was wearing a long-sleeved shirt, a vest and pants, according to the criminal complaint.
The boy was not injured.
Houge was apprehended a week later and has been in jail ever since. Bastian gave him 302 days of custody credit.
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At sentencing, Houge apologized to the victim's family.
Distributed by MCT Information Services
