GARDEN GROVE – A Garden Grove woman has been charged with kidnapping a newborn girl from Garden Grove Hospital in an attempt to cover up a pregnancy lie, authorities said.

Grisel Ramirez, 48, of Garden Grove faces one felony count of kidnapping of a child younger than 14 and five felony counts of first-degree burglary. If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of 17 years and eight months in prison.

Ramirez’s Wednesday afternoon arraignment was continued until Aug. 31. Her bail was set at $1 million, authorities said.

Ramirez is accused of kidnapping a newborn Monday because she had falsely told her estranged husband that she was pregnant, police said, and is believed to have approached other expectant mothers while trying to find a baby girl.

She is accused of posing as a Garden Grove Hospital employee by wearing hospital scrubs and a visitor identification and entering a room where a mother and her newborn girl were lying in bed, police Lt. Jeff Nightengale said.

Ramirez is alleged to have been the woman who distracted a new mother by saying she should take a shower before a doctor visited with her, Nightengale said. While the mother was in the shower, the woman walked out of the hospital room on the fifth floor with the newborn in a large tote bag, he said.

An electronic monitor on the infant’s right ankle alerted staff, Nightengale said. Staff questioned Ramirez as she tried to leave and discovered the baby inside the bag, he said, adding that the baby was returned to her mother.

Ramirez, who has three adult children, is separated from her husband and told him she was pregnant with a girl, Nightengale said, adding that the husband had no knowledge of Ramirez trying to kidnap a baby.

Prosecutors allege Ramirez also entered the individual rooms of four other new mothers at the Garden Grove Hospital on Monday, where they say she asked them questions about their babies, including their sex and date of birth.

Detectives believe Ramirez was also at Western Medical Center-Anaheim on July 26 and approached several expectant mothers. One of them became uncomfortable with Ramirez’s questions.

“She was asking her, ‘When are you due? What is the sex of the baby?’ “Nightengale said.

The mother-to-be alerted hospital staff, who called police, he said. Anaheim officers took a report and sent a warning to hospitals and law-enforcement agencies about a suspicious woman questioning expectant mothers.

Garden Grove detectives saw the crime alert and contacted the expectant mother who filed the police report.

“She identified Ramirez as the woman who questioned her,” Nightengale said.

Ramirez, who officials said is living in the United States illegally and has lived in Garden Grove for more than 20 years, has not been cooperative with detectives, giving them “several different stories and fake names,” Nightengale said.

Authorities are asking anyone with additional information to call the Garden Grove Police Department at 714-741-5800 or the District Attorney Special Investigations Hotline at 714-347-8544.

Contact the writer: 714-704-3709 or desalazar@ocregister.com