Photo: Alamy
An Idaho teenager is facing a felony charge after a newborn baby girl was found dead inside a Safe Haven Baby Box, police said. On Friday, Nov. 22, the Blackfoot Police Department announced in a statement on Facebook that one arrest had been made following the discovery that a deceased baby girl had been placed in a Safe Haven Baby Box on Oct. 13 at the Grove Creek Medical Center, a labor and delivery hospital.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes allow parents to surrender healthy and unharmed newborns under 30 days old to approved facilities, such as hospitals and fire departments. According to police, the baby was already deceased when she was placed in the box.
Angel N. Newberry, 18, has been charged with failing to report a death to law enforcement and the coroner, a felony offense, police said. She was arrested after an investigation by police in Blackfoot and nearby Bingham County.
Newberry was booked into the Bingham County Jail, and police said that “due to the sensitive nature of the ongoing investigation and the potential for further criminal charges, we are limited in the information we can provide.” If guilty, the teen could face up to 10 years in prison or a $50,0000 fine.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes previously wrote in a statement last month that its boxes set off alarms when babies are placed inside, and medical staff at Grove Creek Medical Center “responded immediately to the alarm, indicating a baby was in the box.”
“The medical team removed the infant from the bassinet within a minute. Upon removal, they quickly realized that the infant had passed away long before being placed in the baby box,” the nonprofit added, noting that when the baby girl was placed in the box, she was wrapped in a blanket and the placenta was still attached.
“We are heartbroken,” Safe Haven Baby Boxes founder Monica Kelsey said in the statement, detailing that Idaho’s Safe Haven Law only allows for infants who are unharmed and healthy to be surrendered.
Safe Haven Baby Boxes’ website states that it is the only organization in the U.S. which provides an anonymous surrender option to parents of newborns. In its statement, the organization wrote that 52 infants have been surrendered at its baby box locations since 2017.
Locations of each of its boxes are listed on the nonprofit’s website. In a Facebook post shared after Newberry’s arrest, the nonprofit wrote simply: “This case has devastated our entire staff.”
