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Kidnapped baby back with mother

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published March 12, 2007

LUBBOCK, Texas - A newborn kidnapped from a Lubbock hospital by a woman wearing hospital scrubs and a hooded jacket was found safe Sunday in New Mexico and returned to her mother.

Four-day-old Mychael Darthard-Dawodu was found in a home in Clovis, N.M., by police following up on tips, a day after she was taken from Covenant Lakeside Hospital.

Rayshaun Parson, 21, of Clovis, was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and jailed in Curry County, N.M., where she had been interviewed by Lubbock and FBI investigators, authorities said. Federal charges also could be pursued, Lubbock police Lt. Scott Hudgens said.

Phone numbers at Parson's address had been disconnected Sunday.

Before being flown back to Texas and her parents, Caisha Darthard and Michael A. Dawodu, Mychael was checked at Plains Regional Medical Center in Clovis and found to be in good condition, Clovis police Lt. James Schoeffel said.

The infant was kidnapped early Saturday by a woman posing as a medical worker who walked out of Covenant Lakeside with the 5-pound baby hidden in her purse, police said.

Police in Clovis conducted surveillance on an area pinpointed by at least one tip and found the baby in a home with an adult woman early Sunday, Hudgens said. The suspect was found at another residence in Clovis, he said.

Newborns at Covenant are tagged with a security bracelet, said Gwen Stafford, senior vice president of Covenant Health System, who did not give details.

"As soon as the baby and this security piece were separated we were alarmed and knew," Stafford said. "That's what enabled us to be able to get the visual of the pickup."

Susanne Moore, a former Covenant nurse who had a baby Friday at the same hospital, told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal that the hospital placed an electronic band on her newborn girl's ankle. She said she was told that if the baby were taken too close to a door or elevator, a sensor would cause the door to lock or the elevator to shut down.

Moore said she also was told that if the band were cut off before it was deactivated, the hospital would be locked down.

[Last modified March 12, 2007, 01:20:39]