Newborn baby boy found alive in Stockton dumpster; teenage mother hospitalized

STOCKTON, Calif. (KTXL) -- The Stockton Police Department is investigating after a newborn baby was found in a Stockton dumpster.

Troy Cooper lives in Stockton's Winslow Village Apartments on Village Green Drive, where he found the baby boy wrapped in plastic inside the dumpster around 11:43 a.m.

“How could anybody do this? It was just unbelievable,” he said.

Startled, he called his apartment manager, John Pedebone, for help. Pedebone said he picked up the baby boy, who was still breathing and alive. The umbilical cord was still attached.

“Instinct as a dad, I just need to try to do anything that I could to try help out the baby,” Pedebone told FOX40. “So, before the ambulance gets here, I just make sure that he's breathing and warm.”

Stockton Police Officer Joe Silva said the baby was taken to a hospital where he is recovering. He is now in the care of Child Protective Services.

Silva added as officers conducted their investigation, they found the boy's 15-year-old mother. She was also taken to the hospital.

The teenager will be cited for felony child abuse and endangerment and released to her parents, according to the police department.

Apartment managers said they spotted the girl walking into the complex Tuesday morning, sometime before the discovery of her baby. They didn't recognize her as one of their renters.

"We're still trying to figure out exactly her connection to that apartment complex," Silva said.

No one answered at the unit where the mother was found and no one living nearby was able to tell FOX40 who lived there.

Officer Silva said if it weren't for Pedebone and Cooper, the baby may not have made it, especially on a day that reached triple-digit temperatures.