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A California woman named Venissa Maldonado was taken into custody for felony child abuse and attempted murder of her newborn baby. The crying child was found in a gas station trash can on Thursday in the 900 block of West Orange Thorpe Avenue in Fullerton. The same has been confirmed by Fullerton Police officers.
Authorities are yet to determine if Venissa Maldonado gave birth to the boy inside the gas station restroom. The baby was immediately rushed to a nearby hospital and was declared to be in a critical but stable state.
It is unclear whether 25-year-old Venissa Maldonado has retained a legal representative. An employee at the Chevron gas station first heard the child cry and called 911.
Venissa Maldonado allegedly dumped her baby boy in the trash can at a gas station
Police made a disturbing discovery on Thursday after they found a newborn baby in the trash can of a gas station restroom. The suspect was identified as the child's mother, Venissa Maldonado. Sgt. Yan O’Neil, the spokesperson for the Fullerton Police Department, said:
“Through her statements to detectives, it was determined that the child was hers.”
Police are still trying to find out if she gave birth to the baby in the gas station restroom or somewhere else. As soon as a gas station employee heard the crying baby, they called 911. The Fullerton Fire Department immediately arrived and administered life-saving measures to the newborn and transported him to a nearby hospital.
The Fullerton Police Department stated:
“Once officers arrived on the scene, they located a newborn in a trash can inside the restroom. Officers immediately began lifesaving measures. The Fullerton Fire Department arrived on the scene and transported the newborn to a local hospital for further medical care.”
The department further shed light on California’s Safely Surrendered Baby Law, which has been put in place to save children who are at 'risk of abandonment.' They continued by saying:
“Just another reminder that the Safely Surrendered Baby Law was signed permanently into state law in January of 2006. The law’s intent is to save lives of new born infants at risk of abandonment by encouraging parents or persons with lawful custody to safely surrender the infant within 72 hours of birth, with no questions asked.”
Authorities reportedly linked Venissa to the abandoned new-born baby through surveillance footage
As per Fox News, law enforcement officials linked Venissa with the abandoned baby after they reviewed surveillance footage. In their statement, they mentioned finding a vehicle, which appeared to be Venissa’s. At around 1.45 am on Friday, police served a search warrant and took Venissa into custody from an apartment in Fullerton.
She currently faces charges of attempted murder of her baby and felony child abuse. Police are yet to discover the motive behind the crime that Maldonado allegedly committed.
Police have further urged anyone with information related to the incident to come forward and contact Detective Marcus Saenz or drop anonymous tips by calling Orange County Crime Stoppers.
