Woman who abandoned a newborn near a Compton bike path is sentenced to prison
A 33-year-old woman was sentenced Wednesday to 14 years in state prison for abandoning her newborn daughter under slabs of asphalt near a Compton bike path, prosecutors said.
A judge sentenced Porche Laronda Washington after she pleaded no contest to attempted murder, according to Sarah Ardalani, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.
Washington admitted to causing great bodily injury to a child under the age of 6. As part of her plea deal, the charge of child endangerment was dropped.
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Sheriff’s deputies found Washington’s 4-day-old baby Nov. 27 after neighbors reported hearing the cries of a child. The baby was swaddled in a blanket and tucked in a crevice near a riverbed.
Washington, a Compton resident, had concealed her pregnancy from friends and gave birth at a hospital, sheriff’s officials said. After being released from the hospital on Thanksgiving, authorities said, she disposed of the newborn the next day.
“Basically, she was stressed. She did not want to deliver the baby at first,” Sheriff’s Sgt. Richard Ruiz said in December.
Investigators combed through hospital records to track down Washington. The Sheriff’s Department also relied on tips from the public to identify the mother, Deputy Dist. Atty. Adrian Roxas said in a statement.
Washington was arrested Dec. 3.
The newborn was hospitalized after deputies found her. The baby was expected to be placed in a home through the Department of Children and Family Services. A spokesperson for DCFS did not immediately respond to inquiries about the child’s whereabouts.
For breaking news in California, follow @MattHjourno.
Times staff writer James Queally contributed to this report.
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