Nassau County police and prosecutor offered grim details behind a 24-year-old woman's abandonment of her days old baby. According to Newsday, Xiomara Gamez "has six other children, ages 8 and younger, and admitted to being addicted to cocaine during her latest pregnancy." Detective Lt. Ray Cote said that Gamez gave birth to the baby girl in the basement of an abandoned building, cared for her for two days, and then decided to leave the baby—wrapped in a blanket and tucked into a shoebox— in a Hempstead apartment building because she knew other Hispanic families lived there. He added, "She was down on her luck. She supported herself by selling herself." A relative called the police with a tip about Gamez, an illegal immigrant, who previously worked in a factory; her lawyer said the other children with her with ex-husband. A judge ordered her held on $250,000 cash bail/$500,000 bond on "first-degree reckless endangerment, abandonment of a child and endangering the welfare of a child." more ›

Nassau County police have found the mother of the baby abandoned in a Hempstead building lobby; Newsday reports the police arrested Xiomara Gamez, 25, "on charges of reckless endangerment, endangering the welfare of a child and abandonment of a child." The baby girl was found by a building resident on Sunday night and appeared to be less than a day old. She was wrapped in a blanket and left in a Timberland shoebox, with dental floss tied around her umbilical cord. Gamez will be arraigned today. NY State does have a Safe Haven law that allows parents of unwanted babies to leave them in safe places; safe havens are hospitals, police stations and firehouses. more ›

On Sunday night, a man returning to his Hempstead, Long Island apartment building found a newborn baby in the lobby. According to Newsday, the baby was swaddled in a blanket and left in a shoebox, "She appeared to be less than a day old, police said, her umbilical cord tied off with dental floss, her skin light in color." A building resident said, "She was big and full, with chubby cheeks. Poor thing, she didn't have a diaper and she was all wet." Nassau County Det. Lt. Raymond Cote said, "We'd like to reach out to [the mother] and find out her motive, what the problem was that caused her to take such a drastic action to abandon her young child in the doorway of an apartment building at night." While the mother will face child abandonment charges, a police technician told the Daily News, "She must have been concerned about this child. [The baby] was left to be found. She was prepared properly." NY State has a Safe Haven law which allows parents of unwanted newborns to leave babies at safe places, such as hospitals, police stations and firehouses, without facing prosecution. more ›

News of free, MSG-laden grilled chicken appears to have found its way into a Queens slaughterhouse, where one cow decided that all she had was one shot to make a run for it and somehow escaped onto the streets of Jamaica, Queens. After being loose for around an hour, the NYPD's Mounted Unit was called in and a trailer normally used for horses brought in to corral her. Initial reports were that she was being taken back to the slaughterhouse, it turns out that she'll be spared and likely brought upstate to Farm Sanctuary. A police spokeswoman told Daily Intel, "We always think that once they've escaped, they've earned the right to go free." more ›

As details continue to emerge about the plot to fake a baby's abandonment in Queens, the fate of the baby has remained questionable. Now the Administration for Children's Services say the 14-year-old mother, who may not have known about the plot, may get the 6-month-old baby back. more ›

News that the tale of an adorable abandoned baby was only half-true has resulted in a number of arrests and many questions. And it's possible the baby's 14-year-old mother may not have known about the scheme. more ›

After the city was moved by the story of a baby abandoned in the backseat of a livery cab and how the driver dropped off the baby at a fire house, prompting the police and media to look for the baby's relatives, it turns out the livery cab driver was involved in the abandonment scheme. Driver Klever Sailema was arrested today, as were another man and woman. Oh, no. more ›