ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – A woman accused of abandoning her newborn on an Orlando driveway in the heat of summer has pleaded guilty and will be deported to Mexico.
Angelica Sanchez Bautista, 19, faced an Orange County judge Friday, months after her one-week-old baby was found alone in a car seat on Lido Street in late July.
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A woman had called police after Sanchez Bautista reportedly told people the baby had died, but the caller did not believe that to be the case. The hospital where she gave birth was contacted, and shared that no babies died on the date Sanchez Bautista gave birth.
Sanchez Bautista was arrested in early August.
In Court, Orange County Assistant State Attorney Logan Jackson described how Sanchez Bautista abandoned her child.
“It was discovered that the defendant wrapped the infant child in a blanket, ordered a ride from Lyft, and took the baby to a residence where the baby was left outside in 100-degree weather, nobody was alerted to the child’s presence, and when the child was located, he had a fever of 102 degrees,” Jackson said.
Jackson also said investigators found Google searches on Sanchez Bautista’s phone about how to abandon a baby.
Eight months after the incident, Sanchez Bautista pleaded guilty to contributing to the delinquency or dependency of a minor, a second-degree misdemeanor. Prosecutors dropped an additional child neglect charge, a third-degree felony.
When asked by the judge how she pleaded, she responded simply, through an interpreter: “Guilty.”
An Orange County judge sentenced Sanchez Bautista to 267 days in the Orange County Jail. With time served credit of 267 days, her sentence is complete.
Despite completing her sentence, Sanchez Bautista has an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainer, and she will be deported to Mexico, the state said Friday.
As for her baby, Sanchez Bautista has signed her parental rights, and the child is in the process of being adopted.