The mother of a newborn baby found covered in ants and abandoned on a Cypress Station sidewalk was jailed Monday on a felony child abandonment charge.
Sidney Woytasczyk, who later told investigators she didn’t know she was pregnant, could face up to 20 years behind bars, prosecutors said.
Sometime around midnight Thursday, the 21-year-old gave birth alone in her apartment kitchen.
Afterward, she clipped the umbilical cord, walked outside, put the infant on the ground, and went back inside to go to sleep, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office said a press conference Monday.
Woytasczyk didn’t want her boyfriend to know she’d been pregnant as she was afraid the baby would come between them, investigators said.
“She was scared, and she did not know that she was pregnant,” Deputy Kimberly Thomas said. The baby’s father was inside the apartment at the time, and had no idea what had happened.
But around five hours later, a neighbor discovered the baby girl, covered with insect bites, cuts and bruises. Fluid leaked out of the baby’s umbilical cord.
“More than likely the baby would have died if nobody had found her,” Thomas said.
First responders took the newborn to the hospital, and as of Monday afternoon she was still at the neonatal ICU at Texas Children’s Hospital where she is being treated for a bacterial infection and rapid heartbeat. She is in “good condition” and on the mend, deputies said.
Woytasczyk is being held in the Harris County Jail on a $20,000 bail.
She does not have a criminal record. She was working in retail and was attending college at the time of her arrest, her lawyer said during a hearing early Tuesday.
Deputies urged expecting mothers to familiarize themselves with the so-called Baby Moses law, which allows moms to drop off babies under 60 days old to a fire station, hospital or emergency facility without facing any charges.
No additional charges are expected in the case, and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office said probation “may be considered.”
“This is not an everyday case for us,” said Sgt. Matt Ferguson.
