A Florida woman is accused of child abuse after she allegedly stuck her newborn daughter in a garbage can and covered the infant with bloody paper towels, the Sun Sentinel reports.
Rubi Ramirez, 25, of Fort Lauderdale, was in a hospital for abdominal pain when her mother found her in a bathroom bleeding and called for help, according to a police report.
Dr. Judson Krosney asked Ramirez if she was pregnant. She told him no, but Krosney searched the bathroom and found the newborn in a garbage can underneath a pile of blood-stained paper towels.
Krosney believes Ramirez carried the baby to full term.
The child, who was breathing and alive when found, is in foster care as the Florida Department of Children and Families investigates.
While being interviewed by police, Ramirez first said she did not know she was pregnant and that the baby “fell” in the garbage.
Ramirez also asserted that she had sought help and notified hospital employees that the child was in the garbage can.
The woman later admitted to knowing that she was pregnant.
The child opened her eyes after being delivered, at which point Ramirez confessed that she put the baby in the garbage can, according to the police report.
Jeffrey Bloom, Ramirez’s attorney, said he believes his client has “some mental health issues.”
“We are going to investigate further and as the facts develop, we believe it will be shown that Ms. Ramirez is the victim in this case,” Bloom said.
Police took Ramirez into custody Oct. 5 and she has been hospitalized since.
She has pleaded not guilty to charges of abuse of a child without great bodily harm and desertion of a child.
A judge has granted her a $5,000 bond but ordered her to have no contact with the baby.
[Feature Photo: Google Maps/May 2016]