NEW YORK (1010 WINS/AP)
-- A cab driver who touched of a citywide hunt for the parents of a
baby whom he claimed had been abandoned in his car was arrested
Saturday after police determined his story was a hoax.
Police said the driver, Klever Sailema, knew all along who the child
was, but hid the truth to help an overwhelmed Bronx family abandon the
infant, who had been born to a 14-year-old girl and man twice her age.
1010 WINS Audio: Steve Sandberg Reports l Terry Sheridan with Reaction from Taxi Drivers Spokesman Fernando Mateo
The ill-conceived plot collapsed late Friday night and several people were under arrest Saturday.
The arrests were a stunning development in a case that had
captivated the city after pictures of the adorable baby girl were
published in newspapers and broadcast on TV.
Police didn't immediately say what had broken the case open, but a
family friend, Stuart Caban, told reporters that he had brought the
14-year-old mother to police Friday evening after finding her walking
along the Grand Concourse in the Bronx, carrying a newspaper with her
daughter's picture and sobbing.
``She was depressed, scared, crying. She loved her daughter. She
wanted to be with her,'' said Caban, a 23-year-old bail bondsman.
Caban said the girl told her she hadn't wanted to leave the baby,
but ran away after a violent fight with the father. It wasn't clear
whether she knew about the plot.
The 44-year-old cabbie had been hailed as a good Samaritan after he
dropped the baby off at a Queens firehouse Thursday, saying the child,
who was about 6 months old, had been left in his car by a stranger.
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