Ann Pettway expected to plead guilty in baby kidnapping case
(CBS/AP) NEW YORK - Ann Pettway, a North Carolina woman accused of kidnapping a newborn from a New York City hospital more than two decades ago and raising the girl as her own, will plead guilty Friday to criminal charges, a prosecutor says.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Surratt told a judge Thursday the plea will take place as part of a deal with the government.
Pettway, a Raleigh, N.C. resident, has pleaded not guilty to a kidnapping charge. She was arrested in January 2011 on charges she kidnapped Carlina White from Harlem Hospital in August 1987.
According to CBS New York, Pettway raised the child as her own in Bridgeport, Conn., until Carlina became suspicious of her "mother" due to the fact they didn't look anything alike. Also, Pettway couldn't produce Carlina's birth records when she became pregnant as a teen.
Carlina found her own baby picture next to a computer generated image from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which tracked down her real mother, CBS New York reports.
White is now 24 years old. The FBI says Pettway took the baby after her own childbearing efforts failed.