By: Associated Press//May 25, 2011//
APPLETON, Wis. (AP) — The teenage parents of a newborn abandoned in Kimberly were charged Wednesday with child abandonment and child neglect.
Eighteen-year-old Benjamin LaMarche and 17-year-old Nadia Zahirudin have been ordered to appear in court June 9. They are not in custody.
Police reports say Zahirdun told investigators she gave birth to the baby girl in her bathtub. WLUK-TV reports that she and LaMarche then planned to leave the child at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital but got scared and left the baby behind a church instead.
A man walking his dog found the newborn near a Dumpster in back of the Fox Valley Christian Fellowship church on May 9. The child survived.
Had the teens dropped off the baby at a hospital, they would have been protected from charges under the state’s Safe Haven law.
Information from: WLUK-TV, http://www.fox11online.com