A 21-year-old Fullerton woman was sentenced Friday to five years in state prison for the drowning death of her newborn baby after giving birth in a bathroom toilet at her family home.
Yanira Valderrama of Fullerton pleaded guilty last month to one felony count of child abuse with a sentencing enhancement for inflicting great bodily injury.
Prosecutors say that on Sept. 4, 2009, the then 19-year-old went into labor more than two weeks early. She had hidden her pregnancy from her family and gave birth to a baby boy in the family’s bathroom.
According to prosecutors, she removed the baby from the toilet, wrapped his lifeless body in a towel or T-shirt, and placed the baby in a wastebasket in her bedroom.
Valderrama’s mother entered the bathroom later that night, saw the large amount of blood, and immediately dialed 911.
Paramedics took Valderrama to Anaheim Memorial Hospital, where it was determined that she had just given birth and Fullerton police were alerted. That same night, Fullerton police found the dead newborn in the bedroom.
