Crime & Safety

UPDATE: Mom Charged With Leaving Baby In Shopping Cart

According to NBC10, the couple who found the baby said Hall "showed no emotion for her child."

On Feb. 5, arrested Loretta Hall, 30, of the 1600 block of Durham Road in Middletown, charging her with endangering the welfare of a child and recklessly endangering another person after Hall allegedly left her 1-year-old baby girl alone in the cold in a shopping cart on a grassy area separating a Bensalem apartment complex and a shopping center.

Hall was arraigned before District Judge Robert Wagner and sent to Bucks County prison in lieu of $50,000 bail.

The baby was treated at St. Mary Medical Center in Middletown and is now in the custody of the Bucks County Children and Youth Social Services Agency.

Find out what's happening in Bensalemwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

According to police, two residents of the Bucks Meadows Apartments on Knights Road saw the baby alone and crying in a shopping cart at about 7:30 a.m. Sunday. While one person cared for the baby, the other walked around the complex trying to find the little girl’s parent. After five to 10 minutes, they found Hall.

According to NBC10, the couple who found the baby said Hall "showed no emotion for her child."

Find out what's happening in Bensalemwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Bensalem police said the baby was “very cold to the touch” and was not dressed for the 35 degree temperature outside. Investigation found that Hall consumed alcohol and was taking Klonopin pills the previous night and into Sunday morning. Police said she appeared visibly intoxicated.

"Children are not luggage," Besalem police Sgt. Andrew Aninsman told NBC10. "They're human beings who need the care of their parents. In this situation the mother did not care for the child like she should have."


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.