A woman charged with stealing a baby from a Harlem hospital more than 20 years ago has pleaded not guilty to kidnapping.
Ann Pettway responded firmly "yes sir" when asked by the a federal judge in Manhattan if she was pleading not guilty.
Her lawyer said outside court they are searching for evidence that somebody else snatched the infant from her hospital crib at Harlem Hospital in 1987. The baby was 19 days old.
The snatched baby, Carlina White, was raised under the name of Nejdra Nance in Connecticut and later Georgia.
White, now 23, discovered her past late last year. With the help of the Center for Missing and Exploited Children and the NYPD, she began an amazing quest to reunite with her real Bronx family.
Pettway has been held without bail since she was arrested last month.
The FBI has said in court papers that the Raleigh, N.C., woman took the baby after her own efforts at childbearing failed.
