Dec. 22, 2007
Editor's note: It has been brought to The Orion's attention that this story is similar in structure and wording to a story that ran in The Sacramento Bee on Dec. 18. The Orion story, which was published Dec. 22, was independently reported but only able to gather information from the same source used in The Sacramento Bee's story.
Amelia Sekhon, a 23-year-old Chico State graduate, was pumping gas near Highway 99, in Lodi, on Monday when she was approached by a woman asking for help.
Sekhon thought the woman was asking for money and shrugged her off, said Hettie Schaeffer of the Lodi Police Department. The woman instead handed Sekhon a bundle wrapped in a towel and walked away.
Sekhon unfolded the towel and found a newborn baby boy inside. The infant was only six or seven hours old, Schaeffer said.
When Sekhon looked up from the bundle, the woman had already disappeared from the gas station on Cherokee and Kettleman lanes, Schaeffer said.
Schaeffer isn't aware of previous instances of abandoned infants during her past five years working in the Lodi jurisdiction, she said.
The 6-pound, 12-ounce baby appeared to be in good health and was taken to Lodi Memorial Hospital, Schaeffer said.
Authorities have not been able to identify the woman and have no leads.
If the woman does not return for the infant, child services will probably be called, said Sgt. Rob Merrifield of the Chico Police Department.
Sekhon's experience is "extremely unusual" and isn't something that would typically occur within Chico jurisdiction, he said.
The last major instance involving an abandoned child in Chico was in 2004, after a student was found guilty of killing her newborn and leaving it in a trashcan, Merrifield said.
Most of the time police are only involved if there is a death or a crime, he said. If someone is going to give up a healthy baby they generally go to a hospital.
If an incident similar to Sekhon's happens in Chico, a 911 call should be made, he said.
"The first priority and immediate concern is the medical condition of the child," Merrifield said.
California's Safely Surrendered Baby law gives parents the option of leaving a baby at any hospital or designated safe-haven site.
Under the law, a parent can safely surrender a baby within three days of the infant's birth and then has 14 days to reclaim the child.
The law is in place to encourage people to bring a child to someplace safe and have no crime committed, Merrifield said.
"We want people to know they aren't going to get in trouble," he said. "We are there to help."
Taylor Flores can be reached at tflores@theorion.com
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