California Newborn Nearly Abducted From Hospital in Tote Bag

Aug. 7, 2012— -- A woman dressed in scrubs allegedly tried to steal a newborn girl from a California hospital before the baby's security bracelet sounded an alarm.

Employees at Garden Grove Hospital Medical Center detained suspect Grisel Ramirez, 48, as she tried to exit the building with the newborn baby in her purple tie-dyed bag, Lt. Jeff Nightengale of the Garden Grove Police Department said.

Ramirez was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping.

"The female accused of abducting a child is separating from her husband," Nightengale said. "She had told him she's pregnant, and therefore tried to steal a Hispanic baby."

Ramirez apparently asked an expectant mother a barrage of questions at nearby Western Medical Center in Anaheim last week, making the woman suspicious. She alerted hospital employees, who called police, Nightengale said.

A police report was filed and a warning was sent to local hospitals, he said.

Ramirez entered Garden Grove Hospital Monday wearing medical scrubs and armed with a visitor's pass, Nightengale said.

Posing as a nurse, she went to the maternity recovery ward on the fifth floor where she entered a new mother's room and told her to take a shower, police said.

While the mother was bathing, Ramirez allegedly placed the newborn in her tote bag and walked toward the exit of the hospital, where she was confronted after the newborn's security bracelet triggered sensors.

The baby was unharmed and was reunited with her mother, Nightengale said.

Ramirez has two adult children, police said.

Police told ABC News station KABC-TV in Los Angeles that Ramirez was not cooperating and had provided police with several fake names.

Ramirez has no known history of mental illness, investigators said.