Dad charged with attempted murder of 7-month-old; was his first weekend with visitation (Monticello, New York)

Dad CORY CLARKE had just got visitation rights established, and was on his first visitation weekend with his two kids. And then, SUDDENLY--by the strangest of coincidences--the seven-month-old daughter is kidnapped from Wal-Mart! On dad's first weekend! Dad says somebody must have grabbed the baby while he was in the check-out line and wasn't looking. (Dangerous places, those Wal-Mart check-out lines.) Everything stops, as the police search the area. The baby is found 4 1/2 hours later, 150 feet away from the store, in a wooded area. Face down in the mud and crying, but apparently unharmed. Who was the dastardly stranger who committed this deed?

Well, now we find out that Dad abandoned the baby in the wooded area, and is now charged with attempted murder, reckless endangerment in the first degree, and falsely reporting an incident in the first degree.

http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2009/July09/06/Clarke_arr-06Jul09.html

Infant found abandoned in woods, father charged with attempted murder

MONTICELLO – A Monticello man, who reported his seven-month-old daughter missing from Wal-Mart in the Town of Thompson over the weekend, has been charged with second degree attempted murder.

Cory Clarke, 27, was also charged with reckless endangerment in the first degree and falsely reporting an incident in the second degree.

After Clarke reported the baby missing, State Police from Sullivan, Orange and Ulster counties, the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Department and the Monticello Fire Department conducted a massive search. The child was found 4½ hours later on Saturday abandoned in a wooded area off Lanahan Road, a short distance from the entrance to Wal-Mart, at the site of an old bungalow colony.

The child was unhurt, but was transported to Catskill Regional Medical Center in Harris for examination. She was treated and released.

Clarke was remanded to the Sullivan County Jail pending a future court appearance.

And the earlier article:

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090705/NEWS/907050332

Missing baby found unharmed
Wal-Mart shut in search for 7-month-old
'July 05, 2009'
By Adam Bosch also by Stephen Sacco
Times Herald-Record
July 05, 2009 6:00 AM

THOMPSON — Kim DeRocca let out a scream of joy in the mostly empty parking lot of the Monticello Wal-Mart on Saturday. "They found her," she said with tears streaming down her face.

Kim's grandchild, 7-month-old Brook, had been missing since about noon on Saturday when her father, Cory Clarke, had taken her shopping to the Wal-Mart in Monticello. One of the largest retail outlets in Sullivan County, the store was shut for most of the afternoon as law enforcement officials mounted a search.

Brook was found around 5 p.m. about 150 yards from Wal-Mart in a wooded area off Lanahan Road, near an abandoned bungalow, said Capt. Michael Cahill of the state police. Troopers who heard her crying, saw her face down in the mud.

Brook appeared unharmed but was transported to Catskill Regional Medical Center in Harris as a precaution, police said.

Clarke, of Monticello, told police the baby went missing from a double stroller while he was in a checkout line and wasn't looking. Another child, 18-month-old Charley, was also in the stroller but was safe and unharmed.

Clarke had walked with the two children roughly three miles from his house on Mill Street in the Village of Monticello to Wal-Mart, he said.

Troopers and sheriff's deputies searched car trunks in the parking lot, and no one was allowed to enter the store or parking lot during the investigation.

Both Brook and Charley are the children of Clarke and Michelle DeRocca. The DeRocca family says that a New Jersey Court had recently given the mother custody and the father visitation rights. This weekend was Clarke's first visitation weekend, they said.

Andy and Kim DeRocca, the child's grandparents, had driven their daughter Michelle from Landing, N.J., where Kim now lives, when they heard the news. Michelle emerged from Wal-Mart with Charley securely in her arms shortly after 5 p.m., having just heard that her daughter was found.

"Thank God," she said, her face flush from crying. Troopers say the father was still being interviewed.

State police aren't discussing how Brook ended up face-down in the mud 150 yards away from the store but are continuing their investigation.

The Sullivan County Sheriff's Office, the Monticello Police Department and the Monticello Fire Department, as well as Wal-Mart security, assisted with the search and investigation.