According to police, Sade Owens, 30, said someone drove off in her car with her baby inside after she left it running outside a Marquette Park convenience store Monday afternoon.
"I just heard a young lady hollering about somebody took her car with her baby in it," said Denise Edwards, a witness who saw the mother chasing down the car in the 2700-block of W. 71st Street.
Police said they later located the infant in the care of a babysitter. The baby was never in the stolen vehicle, police said.
Owens faces one felony count of filing a false report. Police said she was arrested without incident Monday evening on the city's South Side.