http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/news/02052004_nw_shoppingcart.html

Mom Wants Baby She Abandoned
SOMERSET, PA-February 5, 2004 — A woman charged with abandoning her infant
daughter in a store shopping cart is seeking custody of the baby.
Melissa Dunning, 22, waived her preliminary hearing Wednesday on charges of
child endangerment, reckless endangerment and false reports to law enforcement.
Matthew Zatko, Dunning's attorney, said the woman wants to regain custody of
her daughter, who has been placed in foster care.

"All of her efforts right now are focused on getting her daughter back," Zatko
said. "To that end, she is doing everything possible and utilizing all the
recourses available to her."

Dunning is accused of leaving the then-3-month-old girl in a shopping cart in a
Wal-Mart in Somerset in December. Police said Dunning then returned to her home
about 12 miles away.

Officials say shoppers found the baby and contacted the store's manager. The
baby wasn't identified until Dunning's boyfriend, Richard Stemmerick, 34, of
Rockwood, called the Wal-Mart asking about his missing daughter.

Dunning is free on bail.


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A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown