Jesenea Miron
A woman allegedly pretended to be a nurse, snuck into a hospital, and tried take someone else’s newborn baby. Deputies from Riverside County, California, identified the suspect in the alleged kidnapping scheme as Jesenea Miron, 23.
According to the sheriff’s department, hospital staff reported on Thursday at 10:30 a.m. that a woman was “impersonating a nurse on campus” at the Riverside University Health System Medical Center.
“During the course of the investigation, deputies learned a female entered the hospital posing as a newly hired nurse and gained access to a medical unit where newborn infants were present,” according to a sheriff’s department press release. “The female entered a patient’s hospital room and identified herself as a nurse. While inside the patient’s room, she attempted to take their newborn infant. The suspect was confronted by hospital staff, who then notified security. The female fled the location before she was able to be apprehended by hospital security or law enforcement.”
Investigators said they quickly identified the suspect as Miron. Authorities did not specify whether they believe the suspect planned to target a specific room or whether they believe she selected the room at random.
Deputies found and arrested the defendant in the 11000 block of Weber Street in the city of Moreno Valley, they said; they also executed a search warrant at a residence in that area.
“Additional items of evidentiary value were also located inside the residence,” deputies said without specifying what those items were.
The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department did not immediately respond to a Law&Crime request for more information.
Miron was booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center early Friday morning on a count of attempted kidnapping. She is being held on a $1 million bail.
From deputies:
Anyone with additional information is encouraged to call Investigator Galvan or Master Investigator Merrill of the Moreno Valley Sheriff’s Station at 951-486-6700 or the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department at 951-776-1099.
Frequent Law&Crime readers will no doubt recall vaguely analogous allegations in other jurisdictions.
In February, an Iowa man was accused of sneaking into a hospital and bottle-feeding a baby after allegedly lying about being the father.
In 2018, authorities in Cleveland warned people that a woman “could attempt to try and take a baby” from a hospital there because she was feared to be “running an ongoing scam involving a fake pregnancy.”
Also in 2018, a woman named Gloria Williams testified that she posed as a nurse, snuck into a Florida hospital, took off with a newborn, and retreated to South Carolina. She raised the infant as her own daughter; it took nearly two decades for the scheme to unravel. Williams was sentenced to serve 18 years in prison.
[Booking photo via Riverside County Sheriff’s Department]