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A mother was charged Wednesday for allegedly abandoning her newborn baby in a West Whittier parking lot, officials announced.

Dolores Adriana Cruz, 41, is facing one felony count of child abuse, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release. She pleaded not guilty to the charge at her arraignment Wednesday afternoon.

The baby was found around 6 p.m. Saturday when a witness heard an infant crying in a commercial neighborhood in the 11600 block of Washington Boulevard. Prosecutors said the abandoned baby was naked and found on the pavement. Responding police officers found Cruz, who they believe to be the infant’s mother, nearby shortly after arriving on scene.

The baby was taken to a hospital for treatment in unknown condition.

Cruz, who officials said is a transient, is facing a maximum sentence of six years in state prison if convicted as charged.

Prosecutors requested her bail be set at $100,000.

Newborn babies can be surrendered to safe surrender designated hospitals and other locations within three days of birth, under California’s “Safely Surrendered Baby” law.

The case remains under investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

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