Detectives arrested the mother of a newborn baby someone discovered in the woods in Maryland.
Leticia Guzman, 25, of Silver Spring, has been charged with child neglect and reckless endangerment, nearly two weeks after the baby was found.
A man was walking in the 10000 block of Tenbrook Drive in Silver Spring about 5 p.m. Aug. 17 when he heard crying, police said.
He found the baby girl about 10 feet from the sidewalk and called 911.
“Somebody was walking in the area and they heard a child crying in the woods,” Montgomery County police Capt. Thomas Jordan said. “About 10 feet off the path in the woods was a newborn child still with umbilical cord.”
According to the hospital, she was born a few hours before she was found, police said.
The following Sunday, police said they found Guzman at a hospital. Doctors said she showed signs of recently giving birth but denied having been pregnant. She said she needed treatment for heavy menstruation.
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Police got a warrant to search Guzman's home and found evidence of childbirth.
“There were a lot of inconsistencies with her story, and further investigation revealed this was the mother of that child,” Jordan said.
Guzman eventually admitted giving birth and leaving the baby at a location she could not recall, according to police.
Guzman was released from the hospital Friday and taken to the Central Processing Unit in Rockville, Maryland.
The baby remains in stable condition and is in the care of the Montgomery County Department of Child Welfare Services.
Maryland has a safe haven law allowing parents to leave newborns at hospitals or police stations with no questions asked.
“There are options,” Jordan said. “We have the safe haven program, which means you can drop a child off, a newborn child, within 10 days, as long as they’re not injured or anything, within 10 days without fear of prosecution. And all you have to do is walk into a police station or a hospital and say this is a safe haven child.”
