(CBS) -- A California family that had just flown into O'Hare late Wednesday night became victims of a car theft not long after they rented a vehicle and hit the road for Wisconsin.

"The family landed at O'Hare around 11 o'clock at night," Lake County Sheriff's Detective Christopher Covelli tells WBBM's Steve Miller.

"(They) rented a vehicle and were driving up to meet family in the Milwaukee area. They stopped at the gas station in Pleasant Prairie to purchase some snacks."

The father and a 14-year-old boy went into the gas station and left a sleeping 9-year-old boy in the vehicle, Covelli says. They left the Hyundai Santa Fe running to keep the air conditioning on, he says.

That's when 58-year-old Michael Newhouse of Kenosha stole the rental car and took off with the 9-year-old in the back seat.

Covelli says Lake County Sheriff's deputies spotted the vehicle and there was a chase. Newhouse was arrested.

He says the 9-year-old wasn't hurt, and he's back with his family.