Woman Surrenders in Abandoned Baby Case

A Lancaster woman who allegedly abandoned her newborn son at a hospital within hours of giving birth to him last weekend has turned herself in to sheriff’s deputies, authorities said Monday.

The woman, 32-year-old Angela Morris, walked into the county sheriff’s Antelope Valley station Sunday about 7:40 p.m., apparently at the urging of relatives, department spokesmen said.

Morris was initially jailed on suspicion of child abandonment in lieu of $5,000 bail, but was later released on her own recognizance, Sheriff’s Sgt. Paul Kaser said. She is scheduled for arraignment May 30.

A spokesman for the Los Angeles County Children’s Services Department, which is investigating the matter, said he was unable to comment on a possible motive.

Morris gave birth to a 7 1/2-pound son at 7:20 a.m. Friday and was discovered missing by medical personnel about 12:30 that afternoon, said Frankie Richards, spokeswoman for Antelope Valley Hospital Medical Center. Morris allegedly gave the hospital a false name when she was admitted in labor, Richards and sheriff’s deputies said.

The child remains in the hospital in good condition and for now is in the custody of the Children’s Services Department.

The county department is expected to recommend in a few days whether mother and child may be reunited or whether the child should be placed in a foster home, among other options, department spokesman Schuyler Sprowles said.