A Queens car thief met his match when he discovered he accidentally shanghaied a pair of plucky kids and their ferocious toy poodle when he took off in the family van.
“When he drove away, my older son told him, ‘Do you know you’re in the wrong car?’ ” said proud pop Sebastian Russo, father of 7-year-old John and Robert, 5.
At one point, the crook “went for the change tray, and my son said, ‘Don’t take our money!’ Russo, 37, told The Post.
“The guy said, ‘I’m only looking for dollars.’ ”
There weren’t any, and “he left the change alone,” Russo said.
Throughout the heist, the feisty little dog, named Collette, refused to leave the front seat and yapped furiously.
The harried thief soon decided he’d had enough, asked the kids their address and drove them to their home in Howard Beach.
The dad said the ordeal started at about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday when he parked the family’s 2010 Honda Odyssey outside a store on Cross Bay Boulevard to get a leash for Collette.
“I thought I locked it, but I guess the doors don’t lock when the key’s in the ignition and it’s still running,” Russo said. “I ran inside the store, and within 10 seconds, a man came inside and said someone took my car. I panicked and ran out and flagged down a police car.”
Russo and the cop began a search for the kids.
But soon, the frantic dad got a call from his wife.
“She called and said, ‘Where are you? The van is in the driveway!’ ” he said.
As the thief drove to the house, he told the boys his name was “Leo,” a police source said.
“Leo” was last seen walking toward 158th Avenue, with his shirt pulled over his face.
After the thief left, the boys went up to their house and rang the doorbell.
Their mom came to the door and said, ‘Where’s your dad?’ ” said neighbor Cecilia Cuomo.
She said of the thief, “He did the right thing by taking the kids home. He just wanted the car.”
Russo agreed. “I’m actually very thankful that he brought them home,” he said, adding that he doesn’t hold a grudge.
“How mad can we be at him? He returned the car. He told my son, ‘If you weren’t in the car, I would have taken it,’ ” he said.
Russo decided his family needed a vacation and whisked them off to Pennsylvania for the weekend.
“Everyone was shaken up. I said, ‘Let’s go,’ ” he said.
Additional reporting by Ikimulisa Livingston