Man dumps newborn in gas station dumpster after 16-year-old gives birth to his baby: Cops

Inset: James Boothe (Shelby County Jail). Background: Memphis, Tennessee, gas station where Boothe allegedly dumped a newborn (Google Maps).

A Tennessee man has been indicted on a slew of charges after he allegedly impregnated a 16-year-old girl and threw the newborn in a gas station dumpster after she gave birth.

James Boothe, 45, was indicted by a grand jury Wednesday on two counts of trafficking for commercial sex acts, promoting prostitution between ages 12 and 18, continuous sexual abuse of a child and aggravated statutory rape.

Memphis police began investigating around 9 a.m. on Jan. 27 when officers responded to a suspicious call in the 3100 block of Teakrock Lane in the Flairwood Apartments. Once there, a 16-year-old girl flagged cops down and told them her friend named “James” had dropped her off after she gave birth about two hours prior, a criminal complaint said. Cops later identified the man as Boothe.

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The girl told cops Boothe was driving her to a hospital because she went into labor. As they were driving, she gave birth to a baby girl. The teen alleged Boothe took the baby from the seat, placed the body in a black plastic bag and threw the remains in a trash dumpster behind a Shell gas station at 1312 E. Shelby Drive. She said she had been in a “relationship” with Boothe for three years, cops wrote.

Officers went to the gas station and found the deceased baby in the bag located inside the dumpster. Police have not publicly released a cause of death for the baby. Surveillance video showed a man that fit Boothe’s description drive up in a dark Infiniti SUV, walk to the dumpster and throw away a black plastic bag, according to the complaint. Boothe owns a Infiniti QX5, cops said.