Man sentenced to jail in abandonment of infant; mother to be tried in January
George Theberge, the homeless man accused with his tentmate of abandoning a newborn in a tent in freezing temperatures last December, was sentenced Monday to 12 months in jail.
MANCHESTER, NH — George Theberge, the homeless man accused with his tentmate of abandoning a newborn in a tent in freezing temperatures last December, was sentenced Monday to 12 months in jail.
Theberge, 45, pleaded guilty in Hillsborough County Superior Court Northern District to the misdemeanor. He was given pre-trial credit of 216 days.
He also pleaded true to a probation violation, and was sentenced to 12 months, with six months suspended, consecutive to the endangerment sentence, and with no pre-trial credit.
Theberge also received a 12-month suspended sentence on an unrelated drug charge from November 2022 of possession of methamphetamine.
In all, he was sentenced to a combined total of 1 ½ years in jail.
Originally, Theberge also was charged with reckless conduct and witness tampering. Those two offenses were dropped.
Sweeney told the judge he was asking for the 12-month maximum sentence on the endangerment charge because “it was only luck the child survived.”
Theberge, along with the infant’s mother, Alexandra Eckersley, 26, were accused of abandoning the newborn infant in a tent near the West Side arena when temperatures dipped to 15 degrees Fahrenheit. Eckersley told police who gave premature birth between 11:30 p.m. and midnight on Dec. 25, 2022.
Theberge, she told first responders, told her 4.4-pound infant son didn’t have a pulse.
Eckersley faces charges of second-degree assault, falsifying physical evidence and reckless conduct. Jury selection for her trial is set for Jan. 22, 2024.
Eckersley left the baby to seek warmth and request emergency help for herself, according to the prosecution, and also misled rescuers as to where the infant could be found. After an hour, police said Eckersley told them where the tent and the infant were located.
The baby was found inside the tent on the floor, uncovered and unclothed, suffering from hypothermia and related symptoms, according to court records.
The defense maintains Eckersley was frightened, bleeding, crying, cold and confused after unexpectedly giving birth.
Defense attorneys said she did not tell police the tent’s location for fear of Theberge. As soon as Eckersley realized she was safe in the ambulance, and that Theberge was not coming back, she took the police to the tent, her defense attorneys maintain.
Eckersley is the daughter of former Red Sox star and longtime announcer Dennis Eckersley and his wife, Nancy.
Eckersley’s attorney has since said that Eckersley is sober, her child has recovered and she sees him twice a week.
