Mother gets prison time for death of baby found in creek
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A woman has been sentenced to 27 years in prison after pleading guilty in the drowning death of her infant daughter more than a year ago in a rain-swollen creek.
Local news outlets report that 34-year-old Sarah Lane Toney pleaded guilty Wednesday to homicide by child abuse in 5-month-old Grace Carlson Santa Cruz's death.
A forensic psychologist testified that Toney was under the influence of methamphetamine and opioids when she walked into the flooded creek near Socastee with her daughter in November 2015.
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The baby's body was recovered from the water days later. Toney told authorities she was carrying her daughter across the creek when the child was washed away.