VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) - A Virginia Beach man will spend five years in prison for hiding the body of a baby girl who died in his care.
Media outlets report that Circuit Court Judge H. Thomas Padrick Jr. sentenced 33-year-old Lawrence Ray Smith Jr. on Wednesday, telling Smith he would have put him away longer if possible.
Smith pleaded guilty April 3 to hiding the body of 11-month-old Janyiha Whiteman, who died while in his care in October. He hid the girl's body in a stroller in an Oceanfront parking garage, where no one discovered it for nearly three weeks. By then, the body was too badly decomposed for a cause of death to be determined.
Police say the mother left the girl in Smith's care after she was jailed for a parole violation.
