A woman in California is facing felony kidnapping charges after hospital workers allegedly caught her impersonating a nurse and attempting to steal a newborn baby, authorities say.
Jesenea Miron, 23, was arrested after she allegedly posed as a newly hired nurse and entered a unit of the Riverside University Health System – Medical Center where newborns are cared for, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release.
She is accused of entering a patient’s room July 14, telling them she was a nurse and trying to take their baby, the sheriff’s department said in the release. Hospital staff confronted Miron and alerted security, but she escaped before she could be apprehended, the release said.
The infant was in Miron’s possession during the incident, but she did not leave the hospital with the baby, Riverside County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Edward Soto told CNN.
Investigators identified Miron and arrested her at a Moreno Valley, California, residence, where they also found “items of evidentiary value,” the news release said.
In addition to one charge of felony kidnapping of a child, Miron also faces a felony child stealing charge, court records show. She has pleaded not guilty, and bail was set at $1 million, the records show.
