No prison time for cashier caught trying to drown newborn in toilet after giving birth at work

SAN MATEO COUNTY, Calif. (KTLA/CNN) -- A 27-year-old Redwood City woman won't serve any time in prison for holding her newborn baby facedown in a toilet moments after giving birth at a McDonald's restaurant restroom more than a year and a half ago, prosecutors said.

On Friday, San Mateo County Superior Court Judge Stephanie Garratt placed Sarah Jane Lockner on four years of supervised probation, the Mercury News reported. Lockner was also ordered to complete parenting classes.

Lockner was originally charged with attempted murder, but she pleaded no contest to a lesser charge of felony child endangerment on Jan. 14 after Garratt said she would consider imposing a sentence lighter than the four years she had previously offered.

According to prosecutors, Lockner gave birth to a baby boy while working as a cashier at the McDonald's on the 100 block of Chestnut Street in Redwood City on Sept. 4, 2017. Lockner went to the restroom several times with complaints of stomach pain.

A co-worker went to check on Lockner, looked over the stall and saw a newborn facedown in the toilet, with Lockner's hand on his back, prosecutors said. As the coworker stepped down, she told investigators she heard the toilet flush.

Lockner reportedly told the co-worker not to call police, but the co-worker did anyway, and responding officers found the baby boy not breathing and without a pulse. He was rushed to a hospital and placed in a medically induced coma, but has since recovered.

The bathroom birth was the second for Lockner, who delivered a baby at home about five years ago, according to prosecutors.

Lockner reportedly said she did not know she was pregnant either time.