New developments take place in the abandoned baby case, as the driver-turned-hero-turned-offender was released from police custody early yesterday morning, along with his girlfriend, baby girl’s aunt.

Klever Sailema, 45, and his girlfriend, Maria Siavichay, 21, were charged with criminal facilitation. Sailema is also charged with falsely reporting an incident. They each face up to a year in jail if convicted. They are due back in court on April 7.

Sailema became a hero after he took a 7-month-old baby girl, abandoned on the back seat of his livery cab, to the nearest firehouse Thursday. He reported to the authorities that an unidentified man got on his car with the baby shortly before 10 a.m. Then he was asked by the man to pull over, as he needed to make a call from a pay phone. Sailema said the man did not come back, and he acted in the child’s best interest.

But, in fact, the story is more complicated, as the driver is an accomplice to abandonment. The driver and his girlfriend, a waitress who immigrated to New York last year, said that they wanted the baby to have a better life, the New York Times reports.

The baby girl, whose real name is Daniella, is Ms. Siavichay’s niece. According to her declarations, Daniella’s father, Carlos Rodas, decided that he cannot take care of the baby, after Daniella’s 14-year-old mother had left him. Police are still searching for the baby’s parents.

Both Mr. Sailema and Ms. Siavichay said that they are well acquainted with the saddening feeling of leaving one’s child.

Ms. Siavichay said that she left her 4-year-old daughter in the care of her grandmother in Ecuador, so she could work in the United States.

Klever Sailema said that he went through a similar experience 21 years ago, when he left his two little girls in his home town in Ecuador.

So the couple decided to help Daniella’s father get rid of his daughter. Mr. Sailema dropped Mr. Rodas at the construction site where he worked. Ms. Siavichay also got off at a subway station, after hugging her niece for the last time. Mr. Sailema took the girl to the firehouse, and falsely reported the circumstances of her abandonment.

Carlos Rodas, 27, faces serious charges. Kevin Ryan, a spokesman with Queens District Attorney Richard Brown told the Daily News that Mr. Rodas could by charged with statutory rape for having sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old girl. The mother is unlikely to be charged due to her age. Daniella has been placed in a foster home.