https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/05/us/virginia-babies-icu-nurse-charged.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/05/us/virginia-babies-icu-nurse-charged.html

A Virginia woman was charged with child abuse on Thursday over her connection to mysterious injuries that appeared on a newborn in a neonatal intensive care unit in a hospital where she worked as a nurse, officials said.

The woman, Erin Elizabeth Ann Strotman, 26, of Chesterfield County, Va., was charged with malicious wounding and felony child abuse, according to court records and the Henrico County Police Division.

The arrest came after the police began investigating three babies who were discovered with “unexplained fractures” in the newborn care unit of Henrico Doctors’ Hospital in Richmond in late November and December, the hospital said in a statement on Friday. The hospital said it provided footage to the authorities to help in their investigation.

If found guilty, Ms. Strotman faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for the felony child neglect charge and 20 years for the malicious wounding charge, Shannon Taylor, the Henrico County’s commonwealth’s attorney, said in a statement.

Ms. Strotman is being held without bond in Henrico County Regional Jail West. Her lawyer did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Saturday.

The hospital, which in the statement described Ms. Strotman as a former employee, declined to say when Ms. Strotman began working there. She received her nursing license in May 2019, and her certification is active, according to the Virginia Department of Health Professions.

Though three babies were recently discovered with fractures, Ms. Strotman was only charged in connection to injuries to a single victim, Ms. Taylor said.

The abuse, which took place on or before Nov. 11, 2024, echoes cases from 2023, when four babies were discovered with mysterious injuries at the same hospital, Ms. Taylor said.

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