Police Investigate Sale of Newborn in Parking Lot for $10

Police are investigating the apparent sale of a 2- to 3-hour-old infant in a shopping center parking lot Saturday night for $10 by a man who took the money and drove away.

The child, described as male and Latino, was in good condition Sunday at Orange County’s Orangewood Children’s Home after spending Saturday night at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, Tustin Police Sgt. Mike Pettifer said.

About 8 p.m. Saturday, a man driving a brown Ford Pinto approached 18-year-old Robert Garcia of Tustin, who was walking through a shopping center parking lot at 14171 Red Hill Ave., Pettifer said. The man offered to sell Garcia the child for drugs or $10.

“Out of concern for the baby, the man said, ‘Sure, I’ll give you $10,’ ” Pettifer said, and the man handed over the infant.

Garcia walked about half a mile to St. Cecilia Catholic Church where he telephoned COPES, a social service agency, the officer said. The agency contacted police, who took the child into protective custody.

Police said there was no reason to suspect that the child had been kidnaped. Pettifer said the case was being investigated as one of child abandonment. Police plan to check today for reports of missing children, Pettifer said.

“It’s still sketchy,” he said.

Pettifer said a physician at Western Medical Center estimated the child was two to three hours old.

“There are no medical problems that I know of,” Pettifer said. “He just offered the baby for sale, and Mr. Garcia bought it.”