Mother charged with leaving newborn in trash at work in Glenview

A nursing home employee allegedly abandoned her newborn child in a tied-up trash bag last month while at work in Glenview.

Verna Tolentino, 40, faces charges of attempted murder and child abandonment in connection to the Jan. 11 incident at Glenview Terrace Nursing Home, police said Friday.

Tolentino, an employee of the nursing home at 1511 Greenwood Road, called an ambulance in the afternoon after locking herself into a restroom and complaining of abdominal pain, Glenview police said.

Two and a half hours later, cleaning staff in the restroom found a baby boy inside a tied garbage bag inside a garbage can, police said. The infant was taken to a hospital where his condition was stabilized.

Tolentino, of Morton Grove, was arrested Thursday, police said.

A Cook County judge on Friday ordered her held on $100,000 bail with electronic home monitoring as a condition of bail, according to prosecutors. She can only have contact with the child on the recommendation of the Department of Children and Family Services. She must also surrender her passport.

Dawn Geras, president of Save Abandoned Babies Foundation, said the woman could have taken advantage of Illinois’ Newborn Baby Safe Haven law.

The law allows parents to legally handover an unharmed baby, 30 days old and younger, to staff at a hospital or fire department, no questions asked.

Save Abandoned Babies Foundation has a 24-hour hotline, 888-510-BABY (2229), for confidential help.