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NORRISTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A suburban Philadelphia woman charged with befriending a woman at a shopping mall and then taking her baby was convicted Friday of kidnapping and child concealment.
Cherie Amoore, 33, had told police that she had lost a newborn weeks earlier and just wanted to hold a child again. Prosecutors said she was never pregnant, although her family had thrown her a baby shower.
The 7-week-old boy was found safe at her apartment a few hours after he went missing.
Amoore had struck up a conversation with his mother at the King of Prussia Mall in March 2016, and took him when the mother was distracted with another child.
The defense did not contest the facts at Friday's bench trial in Montgomery County.
Amoore's lawyer has said she received mental health treatment after her arrest. Lawyer Marc Steinberg said he will call defense witnesses at the sentencing, which has not been scheduled. Prosecutors said they would seek jail time.
Mall security video, combined with tips that poured in and help from the suspect's family, led police to find the baby unharmed at Amoore's apartment in nearby Wayne.
"I took the baby and I am sorry," she told police when they arrived. "It felt like I was holding my son again. It felt so good."
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