Yates County woman charged with homicide in baby’s death

YATES COUNTY, N.Y. — A Dundee woman has been charged in connection with the death of her approximately 5-month-old baby.

Samantha W. Crane, 34, was charged Thursday with criminally negligent homicide, after an investigation by the Yates County Sheriff’s Office.

Yates deputies responded to a Dundee resident on March 20 for the report of an unresponsive infant. Deputies and other first responders provided emergency care to the child, who was taken to Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Hospital in Penn Yan. The baby was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Crane also was charged with first-degree offering a false instrument for filing, third-degree grand larceny, and third-degree welfare fraud. According to the Sheriff’s Office, Crane provided false information to the Department of Social Services and received benefits to which she was not entitled.