Police: Woman Uses Commercial Ruse To Kidnap Baby
UNIONTOWN (KDKA) - Police say a woman lured another woman and her baby to a motel in Uniontown so she could kidnap the 3-month-old child.
According to investigators, 46-year-old Yvonne Bradley, led the mother and child to the Heritage Inn on Main Street in Uniontown under false pretenses, telling the mother that the child would be in TV commercial for Huggies.
Bradley says this never was a kidnapping.
"She asked me to watch the baby," she said. "I walked around the corner and came right back."
But police say that's not what happened.
"It does sound like it was a scheme involving her possibly kidnapping a child to then use as her own," State Trooper Stefani Plume said.
The baby's mother, Janine Smith, brought her baby to the Walmart in Uniontown on Monday.
"She lured her here saying that she worked for Huggies which is the diaper company and that she was bringing her down here to do a photo shoot at the Uniontown Walmart."
The two women spent the night in Room 33 at the Heritage Inn until 6 a.m. when Smith went to Walgreen's down the street.
"She reported she left the motel to go and pick up some supplies for the child," Plume said. "When she came back, the child was gone, the actor was gone."
The mother was frantic when she called 911 and Uniontown police found Bradley walking, carrying the baby on Morgantown Street, just a few blocks away.
The baby was fine.
"I just took her for a walk - that's what she told me to walk her," Bradley said.
The 3-month-old was taken to Uniontown Hospital as a precaution and is fine, according to police.
Bradley sobbed, shaking her head as the magistrate read the affidavit, quoting her as telling police that she had a miscarriage last Friday and took the little boy's body to the Homewood Cemetery.
Pittsburgh police believe that that is a fabricated cover story and the investigation here is far from over.
"There is a possibility there [are] several other females involved in the kidnapping scheme that may come out at a later date," Plume said.
Bradley is charged with kidnapping, unlawful restraint, interfering with custody of a child and endangering the welfare of a child.
Earlier in the day she told police, "I was so upset when I lost my son that the opportunity presented itself for me to give my love to another child."
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