A mother in Idaho has reported an alarming incident at Costco, where a man allegedly attempted to abduct her baby by taking the shopping cart in which the infant was seated.

Michael Garrison Raine, aged 24, was released on a $5,000 bail on November 28 following charges of second-degree kidnapping. According to court records accessed by East Idaho News, police verified that surveillance footage captured Raine at an Idaho Falls Costco on November 20. The footage corroborated the woman’s claim that Raine had purportedly walked off with her shopping cart, which held her 4-week-old child.

The mother recounted to police that while she was browsing in the book aisle, her shopping cart was briefly out of sight but still within reach. She noticed a man, later identified as Raine, lingering nearby. The cart, which contained a car seat with her baby securely fastened, suddenly vanished. The woman reported feeling uneasy and turned around to find the cart missing.

Authorities stated that after a brief search, the woman discovered her cart a few aisles away, being pushed by Raine. She immediately reclaimed the cart, at which point Raine began to apologize repeatedly, assuring her, “I’ll never do that again, I promise.”

She reported the incident to the Idaho Falls Police Department on November 25. Through surveillance footage, investigators retraced the movements of both the mother and Raine. The video showed Raine entering the store, picking up an empty cart, and then proceeding to the book section where the mother was shopping. There, he suspiciously opened a book and appeared to sniff its pages closely, as documented in the court filings.

After sniffing the book, Raine allegedly “grabbed the front end of the cart” carrying the woman’s baby and “spun it around behind her.” He was seen on video pushing the cart away before the woman quickly realized that it was gone. She was observed on video taking the cart back, and Raine reportedly went after her to try to talk to her. Raine then used the self-checkout to purchase some items and ate at the food court before leaving the store.

Police identified the actual owner of the Costco membership that Raine used as his roommate at Brigham Young University – Idaho Falls. The university confirmed that Raine was an enrolled student. The investigation also tracked Raine’s vehicle to a nearby United States Marine Corps Recruiting Station, which Raine visited on the same day he went to Costco. Staff at the recruiting station told police that Raine went with two men in a different vehicle to the Military Entrance Processing Station in Boise, Idaho. Raine reportedly flunked the test after being “disqualified for psychological reasons.”

Raine revisited the recruiting station on Nov. 26, and Idaho Falls Police detectives detained him there for questioning. When they asked him about his trip to Costco on Nov. 20, he told them “nothing out of the ordinary happened.” He was reminded about the alleged incident with the baby in the shopping cart and reportedly responded, “Oh! That! I am so sorry. I remember that now.”

According to police, Raine claimed that he took the cart carrying the baby by mistake, thinking it was his own empty cart that he grabbed by the front and walked away with. He told police, “The next thing he knew, he was confronted by a woman, but he did not know how. The woman did not say anything to him, but he realized he took this woman’s baby and grabbed the wrong cart.”

Raine told police that he apologized profusely to the woman, saying, “I’m sorry, I’ll never do that again.” When police showed him the surveillance video, Raine said, “I was just so oblivious.” He also said, “I guess, I, I don’t know, I really must have been completely out of it.”

He maintained that he apologized for making a mistake, not for allegedly kidnapping the woman’s baby. Raine told police, “I can’t undo that,” and “Like, I won’t ever make that kind of mistake again, just being so unaware of my surroundings that I rob somebody of their child for even just a few seconds.”

Raine was charged with second-degree kidnapping and booked into the Bonneville County Jail on $15,000 bond. That amount was later reduced to $5,000 bond, which Raine posted and he was released on Friday. His next court date is scheduled for Dec. 10.