Police have arrested a man in the regional Victorian town of Shepparton after the theft of a car that had a toddler sleeping inside.

Detectives from the Shepparton Crime Investigation Unit and officers from the Shepparton Divisional Response Unit arrested a 32-year-old man from Mooroopna on Friday afternoon at about 2pm.

Victoria Police allege the man stole a Volkswagen from a supermarket car park on Maude Street just before 2pm on November 14 when the boy's mother headed into the shops.

Detective Acting Sergeant Andrew Costello said the woman was only in the shops "for a matter of moments" before she returned to find her boy in a box on the ground.

Police said the alleged thief reversed out of the car park before realising the boy was inside and then put the child in the box before dr

See Full Page