Charges against a woman accused of abandoning her 4-month-old son have been withdrawn.

Union Township police and local family services officials said the case “became sensationalized” and should never have gotten as far as it did.

Lelanie Gurley, 21, of Harmony Dwellings, Beaver Falls, is expected to get her baby back today.

On Aug. 21, the young mother left her infant — in his car seat with a diaper bag of baby supplies — on the front porch of Vern Fitzpatrick at 306 Grandview Ave.

Police said Gurley maintains that Fitzpatrick is the baby’s grandfather.

“The family is not so sure,” Union Township police officer Mike Mrozek said yesterday. “A paternity test has been ordered. We’ll have the results next week.”

Mrozek said he does not expect charges will be filed against Fitzpatrick.

“At the time the baby was left, he was not so sure where the baby came from,” Mrozek said. “He said this was the first time he saw the baby. We don’t believe he made false statements to us.”

Fitzpatrick told a television reporter he was “in total shock” that a stranger would leave a baby on his doorstep.

He told the TV crew he had received a call from a woman informing him a baby had been left on his front porch. He said he thought it was a joke until he saw the baby.

Lawrence County Children and Youth Services was contacted and the baby was placed in foster care.

On Aug. 25, Gurley went to CYS to ask that the baby be returned to her. At that time, she was arrested, charged with endangering the welfare of a child, recklessly endangering another person and disorderly conduct and jailed on $30,000 bond. She was released on her own recognizance Aug. 28.

Her preliminary hearing, scheduled for yesterday in Lawrence County Central Court, never took place.

Attorney Susan Papa, Lawrence County juvenile master, said she is convinced that “what she did she did out of frustration.”

Papa had presided over the emergency hearing to place the child in foster care. By law, these hearings must be held within 72 hours after taking custody of a child.