Mom Who Killed Baby Boy Sentenced To 16 Years In Prison: Reports

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — A mother who pleaded guilty to killing her newborn son in 2013 is facing nearly 20 years in prison, according to reports.

Tiona Rodriguez, 21, was sentence to 16 years in state prison Thursday, the New York Post first reported. Rodriguez pleaded guilty to a charge of first-degree manslaughter in January, admitting that her son was born alive before his death from asphyxiation.

Rodriguez was arrested in October of 2013 after the body of a dead baby was found in her bag as she was stopped by security at the Herald Square location of Victoria's Secret, prosecutors said. Security had initially stopped Rodriguez on suspicions of shoplifting.

The mother had given birth to the baby boy the day before in her friend's Queens apartment, prosecutors said. The New York City chief medical examiner ruled that the infant's death was caused by homicidal asphyxiation, prosecutors said.

"Tiona Rodriguez deliberately and intentionally killed her defenseless newborn child," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance said in January when Rodriguez pleaded guilty. "While today's plea cannot bring back the life that was so abruptly ended, it is a just end to this tragedy."

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