Cambridge, MD - A newborn baby girl is in the hospital, and her mother is facing criminal charges.
Police say the woman delivered the girl inside of a portable toilet in Cambridge, on the Eastern Shore. Rescue crews were called to Long Wharf Park in Cambridge around 9:30 Monday morning.
They found the baby -- a girl – alive and taking shallow breaths inside the portable toilet. They stabilized her condition and took her to Memorial Hospital in Easton.
News of the shocking delivery has spread quickly through the small town. ‘There's so many people who can't have children and who want children and if she didn't want the baby, give it to somebody who does want it,’ said Jennifer Glover.
‘I think everybody knows about it now; it's Cambridge.. everything gets around,’ said Zach Jorette.
Police say the woman, 44-year-old Candy Vigneri, had the baby then left the toilet and began smoking a cigarette. When another person approached the toilet she told them not to go in, because she'd just given birth.
Police have charged her with 1st and 2nd degree child abuse and reckless endangerment.
Melissa Cannon knows Vigneri; she says she does have other children. ‘You can tell by the way she looks and by the way she acts that there is really something wrong with her; that she does need some help,’ she said.
The baby girl was over six pounds at birth. Police say she's in stable condition.
‘It was wrong for her to do it like that,’ Cannon said. ‘If she had a baby the first thing she should have done was at least call for emergency help not run off and leave the baby.’
Vigneri is being held at the Dorchester County Detention Center. County social services will be responsible for the baby.
