She won’t be winning any mother of the year awards.
A candy pilfering mom accused of abandoning her 1-year-old son when she was busted shoplifting $300 worth of sweets from a Manhattan Duane Reade told cops she’d left him with a babysitter, according to newly released court records.
“I was there but I never abandoned my child. He was with a babysitter,” Michelle Calderon told cops October 7th at the 1st Precinct.
Calderon, 23, and Raymond Lebron, 20, allegedly stuffed the baby’s stroller with Hall’s cough drops, Wrigley’s gum and Tic Tacs while Darnell Johnson, 26, acted as a lookout, cops said.
When a store employee confronted them, Lebron hit him in the face while Calderon used the stroller as a battering ram.
When the employee grabbed the stroller, Calderon and Lebron fled and left the terrified tot inside it behind.
Johnson remained after the duo bolted and told cops he wasn’t aware he was the designated babysitter.
“It’s really messed up what she did leaving her kid like that,” he said. “They pushed the stroller at me and said take the baby and go.”
Johnson and Calderon pleaded not guilty at their arraignment Tuesday in Manhattan Supreme Court.
Calderon is charged with robbery, burglary and endangering the welfare of a child. Johnson was slapped with a burglary rap.