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Iowa babysitter charged after one-year-old found along highway

An Iowa woman faces criminal charges after a baby in her care apparently fell from her car before it was found along a state highway.

An Iowa woman faces criminal charges after a baby in her care apparently fell from her car before it was found along a state highway.

The one-year-old boy was reportedly found sitting along Highway 141 west of Perry, Iowa on Sunday, December 29, 2013.  Someone reportedly took the child to an area hospital, and deputies were called there just before 4 p.m.

A short time later, the boy’s babysitter, 31-year-old Catalina Ortiz-Ortega of Guthrie Center, reportedly arrived at the hospital and told deputies she heard her rear car door open and close but that she didn’t realize the baby had fallen out of the vehicle.

It was 10 degrees with a wind chill of -8 degrees when the boy was found.

The boy was treated at the hospital and later released to his mother.

Ortiz-Ortega was reportedly charged with child endangerment and failure to have a valid driver’s license.   Online jail records show she was released from the Dallas County Jail after posting bond on December 29.

Court records show Ortiz-Ortega pleaded guilty in November 2013 to an unrelated charge of no valid driver’s license after she was cited in a separate incident in October.

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