Deputies in Florida responded to a report of an abandoned newborn baby early Saturday morning on a hill in Mulberry, wrapped in nothing but a blanket.According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, a caller reported hearing a baby crying outside near Regal Loop Mobile Home Park around 1:45 a.m. Saturday.According to WFTS, Magdalena Gregorio Ordonez and her 12-year-old daughter, Eulalia Gregorio, discovered the baby after they heard crying.“I was really surprised that they left a poor little girl on the ,” Gregorio said.Deputies responded and were able to find the baby girl, who Polk County Fire Rescue medics estimated was born just an hour before being found.The baby girl was transported to a local hospital, where she is in a healthy, stable condition.”It was by the grace of God that we found the abandoned baby girl when we did, before exposure to the cold or any animals caused her any harm. She was left in an extremely vulnerable condition, but she’s a strong little girl, and it looks like she’s doing great,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.Judd said that Ordonez and her daughter are “true heroes.”Deputies were unable to locate the baby’s mother in a search that night that utilized a K-9 unit, a drone, and the sheriff’s office helicopter. Deputies also went door to door searching to no avail.Florida’s Safe Haven Law allows parents to leave unharmed newborns less than a week old at any Safe Haven facility (hospitals or staffed EMS/Fire Stations) without fear of prosecution.“You can literally walk up, hand that baby to a firefighter, and drive off, and never disclose who you are, and there’s no criminal liability to that,” Judd said.The Polk County Sheriff’s Office is asking anybody with information about the baby’s mother to call 863-298-6200.If the mother is found, she will likely be charged with child neglect.“We will hold her accountable because she left this child abandoned in the woods, ostensibly, to die,” Judd said.
Deputies in Florida responded to a report of an abandoned newborn baby early Saturday morning on a hill in Mulberry, wrapped in nothing but a blanket.
According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, a caller reported hearing a baby crying outside near Regal Loop Mobile Home Park around 1:45 a.m. Saturday.
According to WFTS, Magdalena Gregorio Ordonez and her 12-year-old daughter, Eulalia Gregorio, discovered the baby after they heard crying.
“I was really surprised that they left a poor little girl on the [ground],” Gregorio said.
Deputies responded and were able to find the baby girl, who Polk County Fire Rescue medics estimated was born just an hour before being found.
The baby girl was transported to a local hospital, where she is in a healthy, stable condition.
“It was by the grace of God that we found the abandoned baby girl when we did, before exposure to the cold or any animals caused her any harm. She was left in an extremely vulnerable condition, but she’s a strong little girl, and it looks like she’s doing great,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.
Judd said that Ordonez and her daughter are “true heroes.”
Deputies were unable to locate the baby’s mother in a search that night that utilized a K-9 unit, a drone, and the sheriff’s office helicopter. Deputies also went door to door searching to no avail.
Florida’s Safe Haven Law allows parents to leave unharmed newborns less than a week old at any Safe Haven facility (hospitals or staffed EMS/Fire Stations) without fear of prosecution.
“You can literally walk up, hand that baby to a firefighter, and drive off, and never disclose who you are, and there’s no criminal liability to that,” Judd said.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office is asking anybody with information about the baby’s mother to call 863-298-6200.
If the mother is found, she will likely be charged with child neglect.
“We will hold her accountable because she left this child abandoned in the woods, ostensibly, to die,” Judd said.
