Infant Abandoned--2nd in 17 Hours

A newborn child--the second baby boy to be abandoned in Orange County within 17 hours--was found late Thursday night in a trash bin across the street from the Crystal Cathedral, police said.

Sgt. Paul Ordonez of the Orange Police Department said the infant was believed to be 2 to 4 hours old when at about 11 p.m. two janitors working in the 4200 block of West Chapman Avenue heard him crying. The janitors, whose names were not released, telephoned police.

The infant was taken to Childrens Hospital of Orange County, where he was reported in stable condition Friday in the intensive care unit.

Authorities are not certain of the child’s race but believe he may be Asian or Asian-American, Ordonez said. The baby weighs 6 pounds, 8 ounces and is 19 to 20 inches long, he said.

Ordonez said the baby was not injured but has been placed in protective custody. He said police are “making an appeal to the infant’s mother to come forward.”

Anyone with information regarding the child is urged to contact Orange Police Detective Hilga Johnson at (714) 532-0493.

The infant was the second abandoned baby found Thursday.

At about 6:45 a.m., a Garden Grove truck driver leaving for work found a 16-month-old boy, later identified as Joshua David Walsh, in his front yard. By day’s end, the child’s grandmother and a former baby sitter, who saw Joshua’s picture on a television newscast, had identified him.

On Friday, Garden Grove police were seeking the boy’s mother in connection with child endangerment charges. She was identified as Danette (Dee) Walsh, 19, a transient.

Friday afternoon, police located a man who said he was with Walsh the night the child was abandoned. The man, whose name was not released, said Walsh visited him last week and asked him to watch the boy while she “went for a walk,” Sgt. Bruce Beauchamp said.

Argued Through the Night

She never returned, he told police, and he took care of Joshua until finally locating Walsh on a Garden Grove street late Wednesday. They argued through the night and Walsh finally sat down in the front yard where Joshua was later found, Beauchamp said. The man set Joshua down beside his mother on the lawn and drove away, he said.

Orange police declined Friday to permit photographs of the baby found in the trash bin. Ordonez said the child’s mother is the only one likely to recognize the infant because he was “only 2 hours old” when discovered.