Written by City News Service
A woman who took her 3-week-old niece from the Spring Valley home of the child's grandmother was sentenced Monday to three years probation and ordered to undergo four months of addiction treatment.
Deborah Ann Fowler, 46, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to felony child abduction.
Judge Charles Ervin gave the defendant credit for 29 days in jail and ordered her to stay away from the child.
According to the San Diego County Sheriff's deputies, 3-week-old Anissa Von Goerlitz was reported missing about 11:15 a.m. on April 5 by her grandmother, her legal guardian.
The older woman told deputies that Fowler had taken the baby without permission.
Sheriff's deputies began looking through stretches of riverbed and other brush-choked terrain off the 10600 block of Vine Street in Lakeside in the late afternoon, after an SUV belonging to Fowler was found in the area.
The baby was found safe with Fowler about 8 p.m., according to authorities.
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