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8-Month-Old Girl Is Found In Dumpster With Burns On Her Hands And Her Babysitter Is Arrested
Andiana Velez is accused of assaulting the baby girl's mother before allegedly dumping the child at an apartment complex in Connecticut.
An 8-month-old girl was found in a dumpster with burns on her hands Monday, and a woman believed to be her babysitter has been arrested.
A tenant in an apartment complex in New Haven, Connecticut was walking away from a dumpster after just throwing out some trash when he heard a baby crying, Rick Chardon, a maintenance worker at the complex, told NBC Connecticut. Inside the dumpster was a shivering baby girl.
The tenant climbed into the dumpster and called for help, and the infant was safely recovered, Chardon said. However, she had burns on both of her hands, according to a press release by the New Haven Police Department.
Andiana Velez, believed to be the child’s babysitter, was arrested Tuesday morning. In addition to being accused of abandoning the 8-month-old, Velez also faces charges for allegedly assaulting the child’s 21-year-old mother earlier that day, according to a separate press release by the New Haven Police Department.
The cause of the burns on the infant’s hands remains unclear, according to the release. She remained hospitalized as of Tuesday.
Authorities could be seen investigating a car seat near the dumpster Monday afternoon, local newspaper the New Haven Register reports.
Velez has been charged with risk of injury to a child, reckless endangerment and assault, according to the press release. She is being held on $250,000 bail.
It’s unclear whether she has an attorney who can comment on her behalf.
“It just tears your heart up inside. It hurts me and it’s not even my child,” Ruth Harris, who lives in the apartment complex where the baby was discovered, told the Register.
