Barefoot Infant Abandoned in Roadside Ditch on Rainy Day by Drunken Grandmother Who Fled the Scene

A Minnesota woman managed to avoid jail time following an incident in which she abandoned her infant grandson in a ditch.

Anastasia Vaughn, 52, entered a guilty plea to a charge of endangering a child in a situation that could cause harm or death. She was arrested on Oct. 29, 2024 when a motorist called to report that an infant “wearing only a sweatshirt and sweatpants” had been left in a ditch by a woman he then saw “running away from the area,” according to a copy of the probable cause affidavit obtained by PEOPLE.

That motorist immediately retrieved the infant, according to the affidavit, which noted that “the temperature was in the 50 degree range and was windy and rainy.”

A deputy with the Otter Tail County Sheriff’s Office arrived on the scene soon after and began to search for Vaughn, who was found “stumbling” barefoot in a wooded area with “bloodshot watery eyes and slurred speech and … the odor of alcohol coming from her,” the affidavit said.

Attempts to administer a Breathlyzer test at the scene were unsuccessful, but deputies had better luck once they got Vaughn into custody at the Otter Tail County Detention Facility. The affidavit said that the results of that test indicated an alcohol concentration of .229, nearly thrice the legal limit.

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

Prosecutors filed charges just two days later in the Seventh District Judicial Court, and the case was headed to trial when Vaughn made the decision to plead guilty in April.

Vaughn admitted to consuming “alcoholic beverages that mixed with [her] prescribed medication” on the day of the incident, and acknowledged that she “put [her grandson] down on the ground near the ditch and left him,” according to a copy of the plea petition obtained by PEOPLE.

Her plea was part of a deal with prosecutors which allowed her to avoid serving time by commuting her 364-day sentence by 319 days, though in his sentencing the judge chose to stay that sentence for two years.

That is also the the length of Vaughn’s probationary period, meaning a violation of her release conditions could land her in jail.

Vaughn is not allowed to consume alcohol, have unsupervised visits with individuals under the age of 18 and must submit to regular testing as part of her probationary release, the judge wrote in his warrant.