This jaw-dropping story reported in the Palm Beach Post has us in disbelief. Manoucheka Fortin, 27, is said to have left her baby with Pigge Berlus, a man she met on Facebook. The man then left her child with a customer service associate at Wal-Mart when he said he had to go to work.
The associate called local police, who are now charging Fortin with child neglect. She’s said to have connected with the man through Facebook, knowing him only as Jonas, the name he used online. She was called Ketia on the site. The two reportedly only met twice in real life before yesterday’s Wal-Mart trip, always when Berlus was driving Fortin somewhere. Yesterday the two had the same arrangement:
Berlus said he dropped Fortin off at the store around 1:55 p.m. and told her he had to be at work around 4 p.m. Fortin told him that she’d be quick, according to police. However, Berlus ended up arriving to work about an hour late as Fortin took longer than she said.
Berlus reported it was the first time he’d met Fortin’s infant. The news report doesn’t say where the baby is now, but we hope she’s somewhere safe (and that safe place is likely not with her mother).
