October 29, 2019
LANTA Lehigh Valley/Facebook
Ashley Leann Walters, 26, was arrested after allegedly leaving her 1-month-old son with a LANTA bus driver on Saturday.
A woman who handed off her son to a bus driver in Bethlehem and walked away in tears has been arrested by authorities.
Ashley Leann Walters, 26, of Whitehall Township, was charged with one count of child endangerment on Monday after allegedly leaving her 1-month-old child with a bus driver, according to the Associated Press.
Walters had placed her son on the farebox of a LANTA bus at a station on the 600 block of Guetter Street on Saturday afternoon, police said. Then she told the driver to call the police and said "this was her son that she can't take care of." She allegedly left the bus and walked away in tears, police said.
The bus driver reported the incident to the authorities, and officers found Walters a few blocks away on West Broad Street, Lehigh Valley Live reported. The baby was taken to Lehigh Valley Hospital in Muhlenberg for evaluation.
Pennsylvania's safe haven law, also known as the Newborn Protection Act, allows parents of babies younger than 28 days old to be left at a hospital or with a police officer at a police station without the person being held criminally liable, as long as the baby isn't harmed.
Walters is being held at Northampton County Jail after failing to post 10% of the 10,000 bail.
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