FEDERAL WAY, Wash. -- The 22-year-old mother who left her newborn baby on the doorstep of a Federal Way church was charged on Friday with third-degree child abandonment, a misdemeanor.

Police said Sarah M. Christianson left the newborn wrapped in a towel. The baby spent nearly six hours outside during the night before a church member discovered the baby in the morning, police said.

According to court documents, the baby girl was slightly hypothermic and recovered at a local hospital.

Surveillance cameras showed a woman leaving the infant girl, believed to be about 12 hours old, outside Steel Lake Presbyterian Church at about 2:16 a.m. on Oct. 28, police said.

Police said the Federal Way woman turned herself in after she called police several times once media coverage of the incident began. Detectives said they eventually convinced the woman to come in.

The charge can carry a sentence of up to one year in jail.

Prosecutors said they will not be asking for any jail time if Christianson is convicted.