Man who abandoned baby in cab charged in her mom's rape

A Manhattan man who abandoned his infant in a livery cab two years ago was arrested Thursday and charged with raping the baby's mother, who was 14 years old at the time, police said.

Carlos Cardenas, 29, who lives on the 500 block of West 146th Street, was charged with statutory rape for having sex with a minor, police said.

Cardenas, police said, had been on the lam since February 2008, when he left his daughter in the backseat of a cab driven by Klever Sailema, who was dating Cardenas' sister, Maria Siavichay, at the time.

The story drew media attention when Sailema told authorities and reporters that a man in a knit cap climbed in his cab on a Queens street with a baby. The man talked about his inability to care for the child before walking off, Sailema claimed. Then Sailema brought the child to a Queens firehouse, police said. The child was then turned over to the city's Department of Social Services.

Later on, the baby's mother was seen walking on the street holding a photo of the infant. After an investigation, police charged Sailema criminally in the case, but in April 2008, prosecutors agreed to dismiss those charges provided that he stayed out of trouble.