A woman accused of abandoning her 5-month-old son on a Lakewood lawn had taken methamphetamine and believed the Russian mafia was chasing her, according to charging papers.
Pierce County prosecutors charged Jessica Marie Hanson, 31, with second-degree abandonment of a dependent person. She pleaded not guilty at arraignment Thursday and Court Commissioner Meagan Foley set bail at $25,000.
While Hanson, who’s from Tonasket, has no criminal history, “this was a particularly vulnerable child,” Foley said in court.
Should Hanson make bail, she isn’t allowed to have contact with her son.
Charging papers and police give this account:
Hanson and the baby’s father were traveling and visiting friends. On Sunday, they left the 5-month-old in Lakewood with friends, who babysat.
Another person in the house said Hanson came back about midnight, and the baby fell over when she set him on the couch. The child rolled onto the floor and cried, then Hanson grabbed him by his pajamas and ran off.
A short time later Hanson, without the baby, knocked on a neighbor’s door and asked to use the bathroom. Then she said she was being followed and again ran away.
Someone walking about 1:30 a.m. Monday through the 8500 block of John Dower Road Southeast heard a noise, used a phone to illuminate the area and found the child.
Police arrived, and noted he was clean and OK, but had blades of grass on his face, which was cold. It was about 41 degrees outside at the time.
Crews kept him in a fire engine to warm him up. He then was taken to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital in Tacoma and put into protective custody.
Police gave the boy’s photo to the media to identify him. Hanson saw a news report and came forward while she was at St. Clare Hospital in Lakewood.
She was booked into jail Wednesday after she was discharged from the hospital.
