USA: Woman pleads not guilty to kidnapping a baby 23 years ago and raising the child as her own

Record ID: 726173

  • Title: USA: Woman pleads not guilty to kidnapping a baby 23 years ago and raising the child as her own
  • Date: 25th February 2011
  • Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (FILE - JANUARY 20, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CARLINA WHITE'S PAGE ON THE WEBSITE FOR THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN VARIOUS OF NEWSPAPER HEADLINES READING "FOUND" AND "KIDNAP MIRACLE"
  • Embargoed: 12th March 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa, Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA7M5SD3F525PL9NG2F5XCAB3IA
  • Story Text: A woman accused of taking a newborn from a Harlem hospital 23 years ago and raising the girl as her own pleaded not guilty on Thursday (February 24) to kidnapping charges.
    Ann Pettway, 49, is charged with the 1987 kidnapping of Carlina White, who was reunited with her biological family last month.
    Pettway, wearing a blue prison smock, entered her plea at a brief hearing in Manhattan federal court. Held in custody without bail since turning herself in on January 23, she is due back in court on May 2.
    Carlina White's biological aunt and biological father Carl Tyson were at the hearing in front of Judge Castel. White reportedly has become estranged from her biological mother Joy White.
    Police say in 1987, Joy White had just given birth and gave the baby to a woman in the hospital dressed as a nurse. The baby was not seen again.
    Unaware of her true identity, Carlina White, 23, was raised as Nejdra Nance with the Pettway family in Bridgeport, Connecticut, about 45 miles east of her biological parents' home.
    She began to suspect she was not the biological offspring of the couple who were raising her when she had trouble getting a birth certificate and a Social Security number.
    In court documents made public last month, Pettway appeared to have confessed to the kidnapping, saying at the time she had been dealing with the stress of several miscarriages.
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