Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

llaszlo via Shutterstock
Hawaii

Woman finds abandoned baby... and is arrested when it turns out it’s her child

The 21-year-old woman was arrested after claiming to have found the newborn on a beach in east Honolulu.

A DAY AFTER a woman reported finding an abandoned newborn crying in the sand on a Hawaii beach, police arrested her and revealed she’s the baby’s mother.

Keala Simeona, 21, of Honolulu, was arrested Tuesday for filing a false police report. Police don’t expect to pursue additional offenses at this time. She posted $250 bail and was released.

She had told police she was parked at Sandy Beach in east Honolulu sometime between 11.30 pm. Sunday and midnight when she heard several people screaming. After the screaming stopped, she said, she walked toward the ocean and found the naked newborn and took her to a hospital.

It’s up to Family Court to decide whether to return the child to her family or whether parental rights will be terminated, the state Department of Human Services said in a statement. An initial hearing is scheduled for Monday.

To determine parentage, the department plans to ask the court to order the mother to submit to DNA testing. It will also seek DNA testing for the father, if a father is identified.

Department Director Patricia McManaman said Monday that the full-term, 8-pound baby was born immediately before she was found. However, officials couldn’t pinpoint an exact time of birth. The baby was doing well and drinking formula at the hospital, McManaman said, while police investigated the case as child abandonment.

A woman who answered the phone at Simeona’s home identified herself as her sister said she wasn’t home.

A spokeswoman for the human services department said officials had just learned about Simeona’s arrest and didn’t yet have any comment. The department had planned to file a petition this week with family court, seeking custody if no family came forward to claim the baby.

Human services officials are informally calling her Baby Sandy.

Read: Newborn baby found abandoned in plane bin

Author
Associated Foreign Press
Your Voice
Readers Comments
22
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.