Baby's mom appears in court

A Midvale woman accused of kidnapping her infant daughter, sparking an endangered person alert that ended in Tennessee, made her first appearance in a Utah courtroom regarding her case Tuesday.

Sheila Crump, 27, is charged in 3rd District Court with child kidnapping, a first-degree felony. In court Tuesday, Judge Robert Faust assigned the Salt Lake Legal Defenders Office to represent her and set the next court hearing for Oct. 23.

Crump, who had limited custodial rights to her 1-month-old daughter, Vanessa Laureen Ochoa, is accused of taking the infant Sept. 25.

The baby was born addicted to cocaine due to her mother's drug use, according to authorities. The state took the baby into protective custody the day after she was born. Crump was able to work her way back to having limited custodial rights in a supervised rehab center setting.

On Sept. 24, Crump took her daughter to Primary Children's Medical Center early in the morning for an illness unrelated to drug usage. Ochoa was checked and released about 90 minutes later. But rather than return back to the rehab center, authorities say Crump took her baby and ran.

State officials said the infant was in danger because she needed medication.

She and her baby were found Sept. 26 in Tennessee at the home of Crump's biological mother whom she had not had contact with in 25 years, according to police.

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