Drunk grandma abandons infant in ditch, MN cops say. She gets community service
A grandmother accused of abandoning a baby in a ditch was given community service hours by a Minnesota judge as punishment, court documents said.
The 52-year-old woman was sentenced to 45 days in jail to be served as 492 hours of community service on June 9, according to sentencing documents.
McClatchy News reached out to the woman’s attorney June 12 but did not immediately receive a response.
The woman was seen walking without shoes on a rainy fall day with her grandchild in her arms, Otter Tail County deputies said in a probable cause statement on Oct. 31.
A passerby saw the woman walk into a ditch, then run off without the infant, deputies said. The onlooker got out of his car and found the child abandoned, authorities said.
The grandmother was found stumbling through the woods by deputies who said her eyes were bloodshot, her speech slurred and she smelled of alcohol, according to the statement.
The woman’s husband arrived at the scene, telling authorities they lived nearby and he didn’t know why she had left with the baby, according to court documents. The man said they were taking care of their two grandchildren.
Deputies tried to breathalyze the woman at the scene, but they were unable to get a proper reading, deputies said. At the jail, where she blew a .229, she told staff she had been drinking White Claw hard seltzers, according to the probable cause statement.
She pleaded guilty to one count of child endangerment April 9, according to court documents.
Otter Tail County is about a 200-mile drive northwest from Minneapolis.
This story was originally published June 12, 2025 at 5:14 PM with the headline "Drunk grandma abandons infant in ditch, MN cops say. She gets community service."
