Infant found soaking wet on front porch of abandoned home - father charged with child abuse

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - A Pinellas Park man got drunk at a Fourth of July party and abandoned his baby on the front porch of a vacant home, St. Petersburg Police said.

Robert DeForest was charged with child abuse. The 7-week-old boy was rushed to All Childrens Hospital and is expected to be alright, police said.

"Basically DeForest was at a Fourth of July party in St. Petersburg and got into an argument with the baby's mother over which of them was drunker," St. Petersburg Police Spokesman Mike Puetz said. "He (DeForest) stormed out with the infant and apparently left him on the front porch of an abandoned house."

A passerby found a baby carriage on the sidewalk in front of 832 Bay Street Northeast after midnight, police said. They found the baby a short distance away.

"He was soaked head to to, apparently from the rain," said Puetz.