Indiana mother accused of leaving child outside on Christmas Eve

HAMMOND, Ind. — A northern Indiana woman faces felony neglect charges after her young daughter was found outside in a stroller on Christmas Eve.

The Times of Munster reports that an arrest warrant was issued Tuesday for 27-year-old Christina Marie Smith of Highland on two counts of felony neglect. Police say a Hammond man told officers that a woman pushing a stroller asked him for a cigarette last Friday as he was shoveling his driveway.

The man told the woman he didn't smoke and went inside his home. When he later came outside to resume shoveling, the police report says the man noticed a stroller in the snow-covered street with a cold and wet child inside.

Smith told police she had left her 11-month-old daughter with a friend while she ran an errand.