DATE: Friday, October 31, 1997              TAG: 9710310620

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: STAFF REPORT 

DATELINE: ACCOMAC                           LENGTH:   29 lines

MOTHER WON'T BE CHARGED WITH ABANDONING INFANT

The 12-year-old mother of an infant found abandoned Oct. 7 will not face neglect charges, Accomack County Sheriff Robert Crockett said Thursday.

In a brief news release, Crockett's office said the county's Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court service unit had decided to forgo criminal charges against the young mother in favor of handling the case within its office.

A resident found the 3-hour-old infant girl in brush near Route 316 in Parksley on the Eastern Shore after he heard cries and called 911.

The infant was taken to Shore Memorial Hospital and later listed in stable condition. Sheriff's Department deputies found the mother at her home after checking nearby schools to see who was absent.

Her parents and school officials say they had not known she was pregnant. The girl gave birth in her bedroom minutes after her mother had left for work and while her father was sleeping. She then left the baby in a waist-high honeysuckle thicket, naked but unharmed.

A 17-year-old boy, identified as the infant's father, was charged Oct. 9 with statutory rape.

The boy has been released to the custody of an aunt, pending trial in the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court. His name has been withheld because of his age. KEYWORDS: ABANDONED BABY JUVENILE EASTERN SHORE

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