ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 16 (UPI) -- A Florida man was arrested after allegedly telling police he found an abandoned baby in a parking lot when he had actually left the child there, officials say.
Ralph Garlick Jr., 53, was arrested early Monday and charged with knowingly giving false information to law enforcement during an investigation and resisting an officer without violence, both misdemeanors, the Orlando (Fla.) Sun Sentinel reported.
Garlick allegedly told police he had found the infant girl wrapped in newspapers in the parking lot of a DeBary convenience store, said Gary Davidson, a Volusia County Sheriff's Office spokesman. He also gave officers a fake name.
However, police later discovered Garlick had actually abandoned the infant in the first place, Davidson said.
Officers tracked down the infants mother, who was identified as Garlick's girlfriend, Davidson said. She had given birth to the girl earlier Monday.
Garlick is not the father of the child.
Florida is one of 34 states in which parents can give up their children without fear of prosecution if they do so within the first seven days of birth, the child is unharmed and dropped off at a "safe haven" location such as a hospital or fire station.
Garlick was taken to the Volusia County Jail on $5,000 bond, Davidson said.
