Mom Pleads Guilty in Abandoned Baby Case

An embattled mother who sparked Internet outrage for abandoning her six-week-old daughter on the side of the road in Anne Arundel County has pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment and was sentenced to her time served in jail.

Sandra McClary, 27, of Baltimore, entered the guilty plea Monday, announced Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney Wes Adams. McClary left her baby on the side of the road in Pasadena on July 4.

“It is heartbreaking to see a child victimized by being abandoned on a roadside,” Adams said. “I’m hopeful that today’s guilty plea by Ms. McClary is the first step in her taking responsibility, not only in her own actions, but also for the health and welfare of her children.”

A judge sentence McClary to five years in jail, suspending all but five months, the time McClary has served. She will be on supervised probation for five years with the following conditions: drug and alcohol treatment, no unlawful contact with her children, cooperation with the Department of Social Services, and successfully completing a parenting class.

Argument Preceded Baby’s Abandonment

In September, assault charges were dropped against McClary’s boyfriend, Cordell Lee Hall, 26, of Baltimore for the July 4 incident. Prosecutors said the only witness to the assault was McClary, who invoked her Fifth Amendment right not to testify and incriminate herself. With no other proof of the assault, prosecutors had to let Hall go.

McClary said Hall grabbed her wrist several times, and pushed her in the chest and head as they argued when she got lost driving the couple to a Fourth of July party, according to court documents.

McClary was charged in July with child neglect and reckless endangerment for allegedly leaving her infant daughter, Angelique, along a Pasadena road. As their argument continued, McClary stopped the car, both adults got out, and Hall reportedly shoved her. At that point, McClary told police, she left Hall and their baby at 920 Druid Hill Ave. in Pasadena.

Just before 11 that night a homeowner saw the infant in her car seat – sweaty but otherwise apparently in good health – and called police.

SEE ALSO

• Mother of Infant Abandoned Along Road Charged with Neglect
• Mother of Abandoned Infant Awaiting Trial on 26 Charges in Armed Robberies
• Suspect in Abandoned Baby Case ‘Tries to Be Good Mother’
• Boyfriend of Mom in Abandoned Baby Case Charged with Assault

When police blanketed the media with a plea to help find the abandoned baby’s parents, McClary called police the following morning. She claimed Hall -- the infant’s father -- was supposed to have the child and she didn’t know where he was. The mother also told dispatchers she did not know of the baby’s whereabouts, police say.

During a previous bail hearing for Sandra McClary, authorities said she is the mother of four children ages 6, 3, 1, and baby Angelique, reports WTOP.

A request in July to lower McClary’s $500,000 bail was rejected as prosecutors argued she was a flight risk with a criminal past.

»Photo of Sandra McClary, courtesy of Anne Arundel County Police