Details released in case of child stealing
Attorney: Fake nurse was in hospital 45 minutes handling newborns
A woman accused of posing as a nurse and kidnapping two newborns at a Moreno Valley hospital spent at least 45 minutes inside, including 20 minutes in one patient’s room where she twice changed the baby’s diaper, and even had a conversation with a real nurse without being detected by employees, according to the attorney for one of the victims and a document filed in the criminal case.
Jesenea Miron, 23, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of kidnapping and two counts of child stealing along with sentencing enhancements of depriving a parent of a child. Miron is due back in court on Sept. 14 and is being held without bail.
Miron left the two babies behind before fleeing. She was arrested later that day, July 14.
Paul Maineri is representing a woman who entered Riverside University Health System Medical Center on July 13 and gave birth to her first child that day. Maineri, at a news conference at his office in Murrieta on Thursday, said Miron entered the woman’s room and spent 20 minutes in there, at one point changing the baby’s diaper.
Miron left but came back 25 minutes later and changed the diaper again, Maineri said.
Then, according to the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office’s written opposition to a defense request to lower Miron’s $1 million bail, Miron asked the father to hand over the baby, which he did. Miron placed the baby in a bassinet and told the parents she needed to take the baby for a CT scan. The father insisted on going with her. Miron wheeled the baby away but when she was halfway out the door, she turned around and said she was going to check on the availability of the CT scan machine. She walked away and never returned, the document states.
That same day, the document continues, Miron went into the room of a patient who had given birth three days earlier. The mother saw Miron talking to a nurse whom the mother recognized. Miron was then allowed to go back into the room and talked to the mother about the baby.
When the mother said the baby needed physical therapy on a shoulder, Miron picked up the baby, said she worked in physical therapy at the hospital and offered to take the baby downstairs for treatment. But the mother felt uneasy handing over her newborn because the baby had been discharged and the tracking bracelet had been removed.
Miron returned the baby to the mother and left the hospital. She was arrested that day in Moreno Valley.
“The defendant was able to undermine the security protocols set for by the hospital,” the document states. “But for the parents being vigilant, the defendant would have been successful in taking either infant out of the hospital. While the hospital has safety protocols for infants such as GPS systems, both infants had been discharged and the GPS tags had been removed.”
In a different court document, Miron was quoted by investigators as saying stealing a baby would be “easy.”
Maineri said Miron fooled hospital staff through a combination of her disguise — scrubs and a fake identification — and inattention from the staff. He
would not say whether he planned to seek financial compensation from the hospital but suggested that a claim is forthcoming.
“The parents are grateful that they’re safe and especially that their baby is safe.
The main concern is that this doesn’t happen again to anybody,” he said.
Sarah Rodriguez, a spokeswoman for the hospital, would not comment on Maineri’s statements or whether any changes have been made to how babies are tracked after they have been discharged. She also declined to say whether the hospital is doing anything for the victims to make up for their ordeals.
Miron’s attorney, Michael Athari, could not be reached for comment.
In calling Miron “a danger to the community,” the DA’s Office said Miron told her family that she was at the hospital because she was pregnant and was having contractions, the court filing states.
But Miron told sheriff’s investigators that she suffered a miscarriage three months into her pregnancy seven months ago. And she told investigators who found ultrasound images in her home that a friend had given them to her. An earlier prosecution motion to increase bail said Miron stole them from two hospitals.