Mom accused of abandoning infant agrees to prison term

Kim Smith

Friday, Feb. 1, 2002 | 9:13 a.m.

A 28-year-old mother of four accused of abandoning her newborn baby in a trash container in August has entered a plea that guarantees a prison term of two to 10 years.

Monique Tucker pleaded the equivalent of no contest to attempted murder Thursday and is scheduled to be sentenced by District Judge Jeffrey Sobel March 26.

Authorities believe Tucker gave birth to a healthy girl in her bathroom on Aug. 6. She then wrapped the baby in a plastic bag and placed her in a shoebox, they say. She then discarded the shoebox in a trash bin at her Charleston Boulevard apartment complex.

A groundskeeper at the complex found the baby; Tucker was arrested when another resident reported seeing blood on the back of Tucker's legs.

Tucker initially said the blood and her extended stomach was because she was menstruating and three months pregnant. She eventually confessed to leaving the baby but insisted she intended to return after visiting a drug store.

She also told police her husband had threatened to leave her if she had another child.