A woman who abandoned her newborn daughter the day after Thanksgiving near Compton Creek, where the baby was rescued by sheriff’s deputies who responded to a report of a baby crying, was sentenced today to 14 years in state prison.
Porche Laronda Washington, 33, was sentenced immediately after pleading no contest to attempted murder and admitting an allegation that she committed great bodily injury on a child under 6, according to Deputy District Attorney Adrian Roxas.
Her 3-day-old daughter was found abandoned in a hole near the riverbed on Nov. 27. The baby was wrapped in what appeared to be a hospital blanket in a hole filled with loose dirt, vegetation and two pieces of asphalt.
One of the sheriff’s deputies who helped rescue the baby said he knew what he was hearing as he was digging in the hole.
“I still didn’t believe it. It was more of a disbelief,” Deputy Adam Colette said after the newborn was found. “When I’m holding the baby, looking down on it, I’m going, ‘The baby’s fine, it’s going to be O.K. … I think the baby definitely had a touch of God that day.”
Authorities arrested Washington on Dec. 3, and she has remained jailed since then.
“She did not want to deliver. She was afraid; she did not want people to know she was pregnant,” sheriff’ss Sgt. Richard Ruiz said earlier. “Once we identified her through the hospital, we reached out to people who knew her.”
Under the Safe Surrender law, a parent or guardian is allowed to surrender an infant who is no more than three days old at a hospital or fire station without repercussions, if the baby shows no sign of abuse.
