Los Angeles, CA ( The Weekly Vice ) - Grisel Ramirez, a 48-year-old California woman has been jailed after she allegedly stole a woman's newborn baby in an attempt to save her dying marriage.
According to police, Ramirez and her husband were in the midst of a separation when Ramirez told him that she was pregnant - hoping that the news might rekindle their dying relationship.
The problem, according to police, was that Ramirez wasn't pregnant and the pressure of the situation increased as the "due date" came and went.
Although Ramirez and her estranged husband lived in separate homes, the husband looked forward to seeing the child, asking Ramirez "When do I get to meet my daughter? When do I need to sign the birth certificate?"
Ramirez needed a baby, and needed one fast. So she dressed in hospital scrubs and walked into Garden Grove Medical Center on Monday to find herself a baby.
Investigators say Ramirez presented herself as a visitor at the hospital and stated that she had arrived to visit a patient. She then entered a room in the maternity ward of the hospital posing as a nurse and instructed the mother of a newborn baby to get showered for a doctor's visit.
Once the mother was out of the room, Ramirez allegedly placed the woman's newborn into a tote bag and tried to carry the infant out of the maternity ward. A security sensor that was attached to the baby's ankle set off an alarm that alerted hospital staff to the emergency.
The nursing staff quickly performed a headcount of their patients and determined that a baby was missing. A doctor stopped Ramirez in the hall and asked to see what she was carrying inside her tote bag. That's when it became clear what had just happened.
Ramirez, who is an undocumented immigrant and mother to three children, is being held on an immigration hold while prosecutors decide on how to proceed with the case.
