Woman Pleads Guilty to Abandoning Mute Daughter

An Orange County woman pleaded guilty Thursday, under an agreement with prosecutors, to abandoning her young, mute daughter in a La Jolla department store earlier this year.

San Diego Municipal Judge Jesus Rodriguez allowed Karen Amy May, 37, of Anaheim, to remain free on $5,000 bail pending her sentencing Jan. 31 on one felony count of child abandonment.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Catherine A. Stephenson said May faces a maximum fine of $1,000 and 12 months in jail under the plea bargain, which specified that prosecutors not seek a state-prison term. A second felony charge of child endangerment was dismissed by Rodriguez.

May’s attorney, Robert J. Stall, said he will ask that his client be placed on probation and spend no more time in custody. Stall said he was “reasonably satisfied” with the disposition of the case but believes it should have been settled as a misdemeanor.

“She made an error in judgment, but this thing’s been blown way out of proportion,” Stall said. “This is a woman who cares very much for her child. She never intended to harm her.”

The case against May sprang from her abandonment of 11-year-old Tanya Tegerdine, who is electively mute--meaning she has the physical ability to speak but doesn’t--and has been diagnosed as developmentally delayed. Tegerdine was discovered wandering alone in the May Co. department store in La Jolla Village Square on Sept. 14. Authorities first believed she was deaf and launched a two-week effort to learn her identity.

Finally Identified

A break in the case came when a former teacher of Tegerdine’s recognized her from a San Diego television report and contacted police, providing them with the names of the girl and her mother. May was arrested Oct. 1 at the Torrance home of her sister-in-law, who had tipped police to the woman’s whereabouts. She was later transferred to San Diego and jailed.

Stall said May, an artist and former 18-wheel truck driver, was at wit’s end when she abandoned her daughter at the shopping mall. May had recently become estranged from her husband, who lives in Camp Verde, Ariz., and “could not handle the stress” of caring for both Tanya and her 7-year-old son, Floyd, Stall said.

“She said she inquired about putting Tanya up for adoption and was told by Orange County officials that her husband--Tanya’s stepfather--would have to be informed,” Stephenson said. “She had real reservations about him getting control over Tanya because there were indications he had been abusive toward the child and the mother. So the alternative Miss May elected was to abandon Tanya.”

Stall said May’s hope was that the child would never be identified and would be adopted by another family. Before driving to La Jolla on Sept. 14, she cut and dyed her daughter’s red hair dark brown, hoping the girl would not be recognized, Stephenson said.

“Her version of events is that caring for a mute child just got to be too much,” Stephenson said. “But it is our contention that she quite obviously pursued an extremely inappropriate and extremely drastic solution to her problem. There were other ways to deal with this.”

Stall conceded that his client “made a mistake that was induced by stress,” but he insisted her goal was “to have Tanya receive good care from a family who could handle this very difficult, emotionally disturbed child. She had just reached the breaking point.”

Working as Secretary

Stall said May, who spent 53 days in custody before posting bail late last month, is now working full time as a secretary.

A spokeswoman for the San Diego County Department of Social Services said Tanya is “doing well” and living temporarily in a home with foster parents who specialize in caring for children with special needs. May’s conviction, she said, does not necessarily mean the girl will be put up for adoption, although that is a possibility.

“Our job is to protect the child but also keep families united whenever possible,” spokeswoman Yolanda Thomas said. “If the father or other relatives are unable to parent the child, she would likely be placed in long-term foster care. When her mother is released, there would be an evaluation and we would see if she is able and willing to resume care of the child.”

Thomas declined to say whether Tanya’s father or stepfather had made any effort to obtain custody of the girl. Tanya’s brother has been returned to the care of his father in Arizona, Stephenson said.