10-year-old Santa Ana girl stops man from stealing mother's wallet

SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- Genesis Ramos might only be 10 years old, but she's brave beyond her years.

Genesis is being credited with thwarting a thief from stealing her mother's wallet out of the family's car.

"I just didn't think that it was right that he could take it, so I wanted to get it back," she said.

After parking at a 7-Eleven in Santa Ana, Grace Ramos ran inside to use the ATM, leaving Genesis and her 12-year-old sister in the backseat of the car.

Police officers said a man, who had just shoplifted batteries and a candy bar from the store, saw Ramos' wallet in the center console.

According to police, he opened the front door, grabbed the wallet and went back to his car. Genesis ran after him, confronting him as he was about to close his car door.

"He kept on trying to close it, but I kept on trying to open it, so he gave up," Genesis said.

He ended up giving her back the wallet. She then ran inside the store to get her mother, who took a photo of the man's license plate.

Ramos said she feels terrible she left her kids in the car and couldn't believe what her daughter did.

"You can imagine anything could happen, but thank God everything came out good," she said.

Ramos also told Genesis she should've just let the wallet go, and the police department agrees.

"He could've run her over, could've had a weapon, he could've kidnapped her," said Cpl. Anthony Bertagna, Santa Ana Police Department public information officer.

While warning others not to act this way, the police department said maybe this brave little girl has a future in law enforcement.

"That sounds pretty cool," Genesis said. "I would like to be an investigator."

Officers are looking for the suspect's car, which is described as a silver Dodge Caravan with the license plate #7BEF092.

Anyone with information on the suspect is asked to call Orange County Crime Stoppers at (855) TIP-OCCS.