NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) – A teenage girl found carrying a dead fetus in a shopping bag at a Manhattan lingerie store is headed toward trial on a shoplifting charge.
A judge Tuesday scheduled hearings and a Jan. 23 trial in the misdemeanor theft case.
The case began on Oct. 17 when a Victoria’s Secret security guard stopped 17-year-old Tiona Rodriguez, of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and a friend on suspicion of shoplifting at the Herald Square store. The guard found the dead fetus in a shopping bag.
Medical examiners are still determining whether the fetus was alive when delivered and what caused the death.
Rodriguez’s lawyers wouldn’t discuss how the fetus came to be in the bag. The teen had told officers she was carrying the child’s remains because she had delivered a day earlier and didn’t know what to do, authorities said in October.
Rodriguez maintains her innocence in the shoplifting case.
Her friend was also charged with shoplifting. She pleaded guilty Tuesday to disorderly conduct and was ordered to do two days of community service.
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