NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — Authorities have charged a 21-year-old woman after a newborn girl was found abandoned Sunday in North Myrtle Beach, a city police spokesman said.

Britney Wheatle was charged with being a person in charge of or in custody of a child and placing a child at risk of harm, according to online booking records for the J. Reuben Long Detention Center. She was booked into the jail early Monday morning and remains in custody on a $10,000 bond.

Police spokesman Pat Wilkinson said the baby girl was less than a day old when a woman walking found her in the dirt with no clothes and no blanket outside a home in the 100 block of Live Oak Court. The residents of the home where the baby was found were out of town and are not connected to the case.

The baby was taken to Grand Strand Medical Center and was being cared for on Monday in the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, Wilkinson said.

Wheatle, a J-1 visa student from Jamaica, was charged after police consulted with the 15th Circuit Solicitor’s Office, Wilkinson said.

The J-1 program is for individuals approved to participate in work-and study-based exchange visitor programs.  All J-1 nonimmigrants must be sponsored by an organization that is designated by the U.S. State Department.

No additional information was immediately available.

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Dennis Bright is a digital producer at News13. Dennis is a West Virginia native and graduate of Marshall University. He has won copyediting and journalism awards in West Virginia and Ohio. Follow Dennis on Twitter and read more of his work here.