VAN NUYS : Mental Exam Set for Kidnaping Suspect

State mental health experts will examine a woman who posed as a nurse and abducted a 2-day-old baby from its mother in a Tarzana hospital in an effort to determine if she should be sentenced to state prison or be freed under the guidance of probation officials.

Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Sandy Kriegler on Wednesday ordered the state Department of Corrections to perform a 90-day diagnostic study of Pamela Ann Luna, a 37-year-old Tarzana woman who pleaded no contest last month to one count of kidnaping.

Sentencing is set for Aug. 19.

Prosecutors agreed to the delay because Probation Department officials have recommended that she be freed without spending any further time in custody, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Herbert R. Lapin. Luna faces a maximum of 11 years in prison.

Authorities said Luna went to Tarzana Regional Medical Center on Dec. 23 and, after donning a nurse’s uniform, entered the room of a 16-year-old mother.

Luna, who had previously worked at the hospital, told the teen-ager that her baby girl was scheduled to have a blood test, police said.

The newborn was found asleep and unharmed about five hours later in Luna’s apartment. A hospital employee had seen Luna in the facility, and she matched the description given by the mother.

“The child was never in danger, but that doesn’t make up for what the mother went through,” Lapin said.

Both mother and daughter are reported to be fine, but the teen-ager has undergone counseling to help her deal with the abduction, Lapin said.

Luna told police at the time of the incident that she was suffering from cancer and was unable to have any more children of her own.

Defense attorney Dennis Cohen declined to discuss Luna’s medical condition and motivation for the abduction, saying it would violate legal ethics “to divulge that type of information.”

Luna is married and has two daughters, ages 6 and 8.