HOT SPRINGS -- A teen who abandoned her newborn baby on a neighbor's porch last year was sentenced to two years' probation Monday in Garland County Circuit Court after a bench trial last month.

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Fabiola Berenice Torres-Onate, 19, of Hot Springs appeared Feb. 26 with attorney Mike Crawford and pleaded no contest to a felony charge of first-degree endangering the welfare of a minor, waiving her right to a jury trial.

Torres-Onate was sentenced Monday to probation and under the first offender law will be eligible to have the charge against her expunged and the case sealed if she completes all the requirements of her probation, Prosecuting Attorney Terri Harris said Tuesday.

As one of the conditions of her probation, Judge John Homer Wright ordered Torres-Onate to complete 50 hours of community service where she will speak to other young girls about teen pregnancy and about the Arkansas Safe Haven Law, Harris said.

The law, enacted in 2001, states an infant 30 days old or younger may be left at any hospital emergency room, police department, sheriff's office or Arkansas State Police location. Only a parent may leave the child with personnel, and they can remain protected under the law and not be arrested if the child has not been abused.

"This was an acceptable sentence and one where the judge tempered justice with a little bit of mercy," Harris said, noting Torres-Onate was 18 when she left her baby and that she doesn't speak English fluently.

"It was a very difficult situation for her," Harris said, adding that Torres-Onate's family "had no idea she was pregnant."

According to the affidavit, sheriff's deputies were dispatched March 9, 2015, to a residence on Pineberry Trail regarding a newborn infant found abandoned on the front porch. They arrived to find a male infant who appeared to be just a few hours old wrapped in a blanket.

The homeowner stated she arrived home around 4:15 p.m. and found the baby on her porch in front of her door. She had no information about who the mother might be. The baby was transported to a local hospital and later airlifted to Arkansas Children's Hospital in Little Rock for further examination and observation and was eventually placed in the custody of the Arkansas Department of Human Services.

Sheriff's Sgt. Mike Wright and Arkansas State Police Crimes Against Children Investigator Amanda Chaney interviewed Torres-Onatetwo days later and noted that she lived with her family in the same mobile home park where the baby was found.

Torres-Onate initially denied the baby was hers and claimed to know nothing about it other than what she had heard in the news.

Her uncle contacted investigators the next morning and told them his niece had confessed to the family that the baby found was hers. Torres-Onate was interviewed again that day and admitted the baby was hers and that she gave birth to him in her bathroom at home.

She said she had hidden the pregnancy from her family and she was "scared" and didn't know what to do. She said she left the home March 9 without her family knowing and left the baby on the doorstep of her neighbor.

Torres-Onate wasn't charged at that time and was released. The case was investigated further and turned over to the Garland County prosecuting attorney's office for review, and a warrant for her arrest was issued March 16. She turned herself in March 18 and was released a few hours later on $2,500 bond.

State Desk on 03/09/2016