Ohio woman tries to explain why she swiped stuffed toy from baby's grave

An Ohio woman is trying to clear her name after a video of her removing a stuffed toy from a child's grave went viral.

According to the Associated Press, 54-year-old Frieda Kay Shade of Ontario, Ohio said she was trying to keep the stuffed duck from being torn apart by an off-leash dog.

The soft toy was lying on the grave of 14-month-old Hayden "Tank" Cole Sheridan, who died in 2007 of complications related to an extremely premature birth. The boy's mother, Jacqueline Sheridan (pictured above), said that toys and other items the family left on the grave began to disappear shortly after they buried Hayden.

The Sheridans set up a surveillance camera at the cemetery, which was how they caught Shade on Saturday, removing a toy duck they left for Easter.

Shade turned herself in on Wednesday and her attorney said that she plans to plead not guilty to one count of theft when the case goes before a judge on May 8.

Her attorney told the AP that she was trying to keep the toy from being torn up by a dog, but no dog is visible in the surveillance footage and the duck was never returned to the grave.

Watch video about this story, embedded below: