1-Year-Old Found In Harlem Was Abandoned, Police Say

HARLEM, NY — The NYPD is searching for a man wanted for abandoning a 1-year-old child Thursday in a Harlem apartment building, police said.

Antonio Staton, 22, left the infant boy in the exterior foyer of 272 W. 132 St., located between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. and Frederick Douglass boulevards, and placed a table across the foyer's opening to prevent the child from exiting the building, police said. The man is not related to the 1-year-old, police said.

Staton then walked to a building next door and threw a bag of diapers in the trash before leaving the scene, police said.

The 1-year-old boy was found around 11 a.m. Thursday, less than 30 minutes after he was left in the foyer, police said. The boy was safe and in good health, but was taken to a local hospital for a precautionary evaluation, police said.

Staton (pictured below) is described as standing 6-feet-tall and weighing about 200 pounds, police said. He was last seen wearing a black baseball cap, a black t-shirt, black sweatpants and black and white sneakers.

Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477).

Photos by NYPD