Three people were recently arrested in Pennsylvania after being accused of leaving a baby behind at a crime scene.
Authorities arrested the abandoned baby’s father, Joseph Daniels, during a traffic stop on the morning of Saturday, April 4, according to ABC 6. The baby’s mother, Angelina Williams, was taken into custody days earlier.
Police said that Daniels, 49, and Williams, 32, were part of a copper stealing trio who raised suspicions in Upper Chichester on Monday, March 30.
Officers with the township’s police department reported to the scene after they received a call that three people were using a saw to cut an inactive Verizon cable.
Lt. Christopher Jones previously said the crime was motivated by the value of the materials inside of the cables.
“The copper inside the cables is a hot item for the precious metals to be melted down and taken to wherever they can to get pawned,” Jones said, per ABC 6.
Once officers arrived at the scene, police said that the three suspects fled in a Jeep. They left a second vehicle behind at the scene, which was later towed to a police station.
As officers looked through the abandoned car, they found cut cables in the trunk and hand saws on the passenger seat. However, the most unsettling thing found in the car was a 4-month-old baby boy. Authorities said that the baby was not harmed in the incident.
“Once it was back here, our officers were checking the exterior of the car and noticed that a blanket in the backseat moved slightly,” Jones said of finding the baby once the vehicle was at the police station.
Police removed the blanket and found the infant, who was sleeping soundly.
“Thank goodness that officer looked in there and saw something moving. It would’ve been a few hours before we executed a search warrant on it once the judge signed the paperwork,” Jones said.
Authorities said that Williams was arrested soon after the incident in connection with the cable theft, though she reportedly never mentioned that the baby was inside the abandoned vehicle.
While Daniels was arrested on April 4, the third suspect, Ray Gibase, turned himself in on Sunday, April 5, according to Crime Watch.
It is not currently clear if Daniels, Williams or Gibase, 47, have entered pleas or retained legal counsel following their arrests. The Upper Chichester Police Department did not immediately respond to Us Weekly’s request for comment regarding the case.
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