Former Virginia nurse charged with felony child abuse amid probe into NICU babies suffering ‘unexplained fractures’
Henrico County, Virginia Sheriff’s Office
(RICHMOND, Va.) — A former nurse who was employed at the Henrico Doctors’ Hospital in Richmond, Virginia, was charged on Friday with malicious wounding and felony child abuse for allegedly intentionally injuring an infant at the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
Erin Elizabeth Ann Strotman of Chesterfield County was charged with one count of felony child neglect which carries up to 10 years in prison, as well as one count of felony malicious wounding for an injury sustained by an infant which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, according to Henrico Commonwealth Attorney Shannon Taylor, whose office is prosecuting this case.
The charges are connected to an incident that allegedly occurred on Nov. 10, 2024.
According to WRIC, the ABC affiliate in Richmond, Strotman was arraigned on Friday.
Public defender Scott Cardani, who is representing Strotman, told ABC News on Tuesday that she has not yet entered a plea and he declined to comment on the charges. According to court records, Strotman’s next hearing is scheduled for March 24, 2025. She was denied bond, according to Taylor’s office, and was ordered by the court to not have any contact with children under the age of 18.
Taylor told ABC News on Tuesday that while Strotman was charged in connection to a single incident, the investigation is ongoing and law enforcement officials have so far identified seven potential victims, but added that the number could increase.
“Thus far, we have four babies identified from 2023 and three babies identified from 2024,” Taylor said. “However, both Henrico Police Division and myself have made public statements encouraging families to reach out if they believe that their babies were impacted. Thus, this number may increase.”
Taylor said that her office has been in touch with the families who have been identified so far, but officials did not name the alleged potential victims involved in this case.
According to the Henrico Police Department, law enforcement officials began to probe this case after the Henrico Doctors’ Hospital launched an internal investigation into “unexplained fractures” sustained by babies in the hospital’s NICU from 2023 to 2024.
“All of the previously closed cases related to these incidents have been reopened as part of the recent broader investigation,” Henrico Police said in a statement on Dec. 31 2024. “All of the families involved in this current broader investigation have been notified, to include those from 2023.”
Dominique Hackey, a father of twins, told WRIC in an interview published on Jan. 1 that his son Noah’s case is one of those that has been reopened.
“We want to make it clear that Noah didn’t have a bone disease. It wasn’t accidental. It wasn’t from his birth,” Hackey said. “Somebody did this to our son and we’re going to find out who did this.”
As this case gained national attention, the Henrico Police Department dispelled rumors that the alleged victims were targeted based on their racial identity, telling ABC News in a statement on Tuesday those allegations are “not factual” based on the “preliminary investigation.”
Henrico Chief of Police Eric D. English said that police recognize that this case has generated feelings and emotions, but asked the public for “patience as our detectives work to investigate every piece of evidence in connection to these cases.”
As part of the investigation, police said that they are reviewing dozens of videos from inside the NICU as they pursue a wider investigation with the assistance of Henrico’s Child Protective Services (Department of Social Services), the Henrico County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office, Virginia State Police, the Virginia Department of Health and the Office of the Attorney General.
A spokesperson for the Henrico Police Department confirmed to ABC News on Tuesday that the investigation is ongoing.
Henrico Doctors’ Hospital announced on their website that the hospital’s NICU is “not admitting new patients” at this time.
“We have been assisting law enforcement in their ongoing investigation and will continue to do so. Any media questions or inquiries about that investigation should be directed to law enforcement,” the hospital said in a statement on Jan. 3. “We are both shocked and saddened by this development in the investigation and are focused on continuing to care for our patients and providing support to our colleagues who have been deeply and personally impacted by this investigation.”
ABC News reached out to a hospital spokesperson for further comment.
(WASHINGTON) — Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are urging outgoing Attorney General Merrick Garland to “take all necessary steps” to release special counsel Jack Smith’s report on Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents — and they’re encouraging him to drop the remaining charges against the president-elect’s former co-defendants in order to do so.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who earlier this week allowed the Justice Department to release the first volume of Smith’s report, which covers his election interference case against Trump, has temporarily blocked the release of the second volume covering the classified documents case due to the DOJ’s ongoing prosecution of longtime Trump aide Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago staffer Carlos De Oliveira, Trump’s former co-defendants in the case.
“As Attorney General, it is incumbent upon you to take all necessary steps to ensure the report is released before the end of your tenure, including, if necessary, by simply dismissing the remaining criminal charges against Mr. Trump’s co-conspirators, Waltine Nauta and Carlos De Oliveira,” the 18 Democratic committee members wrote in a letter obtained by ABC News.
Cannon, who last year threw out Trump’s classified documents case, plans to hold a hearing Friday on whether to make the Volume Two of Smith’s report available to leaders of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.
Because the Justice Department has said it will not publicly release the second volume of the report while charges are pending against Nauta and De Oliviera, the Democrats, led by ranking member Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Rep. Dan Goldman of New York, called on Garland to dismiss the charges ahead of Trump’s inauguration next Monday.
“To the extent that such a decision to dismiss these cases might encourage these defendants to keep enabling the corruption of their superiors, those concerns are outweighed by the many indications that Mr. Trump will simply end the prosecutions against his coconspirators upon taking office anyway and then instruct his DOJ to permanently bury this report,” they wrote.
“While we understand your honorable and steadfast adherence to Mr. Nauta’s and Mr. De Oliveira’s due process rights as criminal defendants, the practical effect of this position is that Volume 2 will almost certainly remain concealed for at least four more years if you do not release it before President-elect Trump’s inauguration on January 20,” the Democrats wrote.
Trump pleaded not guilty in 2023 to 40 criminal counts related to his retention of classified materials after leaving the White House, and later that year pleaded not guilty to separate charges of undertaking a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Both cases were dropped following Trump’s reelection in November due to a longstanding Justice Department policy prohibiting the prosecution of a sitting president.
In their letter to Garland, Democrats argued that the release of the full classified documents report was in “the public interest.”
“To the extent the tangential charges against Mr. Nauta and Mr. De Oliveira stand in the way of the overriding imperative of transparency and truth, the interests of justice demand that their cases be dismissed now so that the entirety of Special Counsel Smith’s report can be released to the American people,” they wrote.
In this screen grab from a video, a drone is shown near Bedminster, New Jersey, on Dec. 3, 2024. Obtained by ABC News
(NEW YORK) — The Pentagon shot down a congressman’s claim that an Iranian “mothership” is behind large drones spotted over New Jersey in recent weeks, while officials in the state are demanding a stronger federal response and transparency in connection with the mysterious, unexplained sightings.
Since mid-November, large drones of uncertain origin have been repeatedly spotted in the sky at night over central and northern New Jersey, including near a military installation.
State and local officials convened at a closed-door meeting Wednesday morning at the New Jersey State Police headquarters with representatives from the Department of Homeland Security to address the matter, according to several officials in attendance.
It remains unclear who is operating the drones, according to a DHS handout released by Montvale Mayor Mike Ghassali, who attended the meeting.
“At this time, according to the FBI, there are no known specific or credible threats related to these sightings,” the handout stated.
There have been reports ranging from four to 180 sightings per night, according to New Jersey Assemblywoman Dawn Fantasia, who attended the meeting. The drones “operate in a coordinated manner” and have not been identified as hobbyist drones or ones related to DHS, she said.
Several officials said following the meeting that they were not assuaged by the DHS response.
Ghassali said it has only “heightened my apprehensions regarding the federal government’s approach to this critical issue.”
“The message conveyed was that there is no credible threat, yet they are flying over critical infrastructure, and their point of origin and destination remain unidentified,” he said in a statement. “They will eventually find out but for now, we don’t know anything else.”
New Jersey state Sen. Holly Schepisi called the DHS response “abysmal.”
“[It] actually made me feel less confident in our federal government’s reaction to this issue rather than more,” she said in a statement. “For the federal government to not dedicate every defense resource needed to identify the origin and purpose of these drones in the most densely populated state in the nation is inexplicable and completely unacceptable.”
Fantasia said “we know nothing” and to “state that there is no known or credible threat is incredibly misleading, and I informed all officials of that sentiment.”
Following the meeting, New Jersey state Sen. Jon Bramnick urged the Department of Defense to investigate and reiterated his call for a limited state of emergency in the state.
“The Department of Defense must investigate and until that occurs we must shut down the airspace to drones. That would require a limited state of emergency and FAA cooperation,” he said in a statement.
A spokesperson for the FBI, which is the leading agency investigating the sightings, said it is “doing all we can [to] figure out what’s going on.”
“The public can continue to call our 800 line, or submit a tip online, we are acting on every substantive lead that we get,” the FBI spokesperson said.
The Federal Aviation Administration has imposed flight restrictions over Picatinny Arsenal in Morris County and Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in Somerset County in response to the drone activity.
“Safely integrating drones into the National Airspace System is a key priority for the FAA,” the agency said in a statement earlier this month. “We look into all reports of unauthorized drone operations and investigate when appropriate.”
New Jersey Rep. Jeff Van Drew criticized the FAA for its inability to locate the drones during a House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s hearing earlier Wednesday.
“We have a serious problem with our aerospace. The recent sightings of unidentified drones in the state of New Jersey, my home state, is justifiably causing tremendous public concern,” he said.
Van Drew said the drones are “large” and “sophisticated” and alleged the presence of an “Iranian mothership” responsible for them, though he did not provide evidence to support his claims.
“I’ve learned, for real, that there is circumstantial evidence that there’s an Iranian mothership off the East Coast of the United States, and that’s launching these drone incursions,” he said.
He said he is concerned at this time with identifying his sources but said they are “individuals who are reputable, individuals who speak with authority.”
The Pentagon shot down Van Drew’s claim.
“There is not any truth to that — there is no Iranian ship off the coast of the United States, and there’s no so-called mothership launching drones towards the United States,” deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters Wednesday.
Singh said there is no evidence the drone activity is coming from any foreign entity or is the work of an adversary.
“We’re going to continue to monitor what is happening,” she said, adding, “At no point were our installations threatened when this activity was occurring.”
Van Drew doubled down in an interview with ABC News following the Pentagon’s briefing, saying there is a “real possibility that it is a foreign entity.” He said his “well-placed” sources believe there is a possibility the drones are Iranian, and that there could be a mothership hundreds of miles off the U.S. coast.
“They say to us there’s nothing to fear, but we have no idea who it is, where it comes from, what it’s about and what it can do,” he said.
Van Drew proposed that flight restrictions be placed over the New Jersey airspace “and an order be given to neutralize any drone aircraft in violation of those restrictions” in a letter addressed to President Joe Biden on Wednesday.
“In neutralizing these drones we must ensure the safety of people on ground and should also attempt to keep the drones intact so that we may study their capabilities,” he wrote.
New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith has called on Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to help identify and address the widespread drone activity over the state.
“As you no doubt are also aware, there have been numerous instances of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) flying over New Jersey, including in close proximity to sensitive sites and critical infrastructure, to include military installations located in my district,” he stated in a letter to Lloyd on Tuesday.
He noted that Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (JBMDL) possesses the capability to identify and take down unauthorized unmanned aerial systems.
“I urgently request all capabilities possessed by the Department of Defense, especially those in use by JBMDL to be immediately deployed to identify and address the potential threats posed by UAS over the state of New Jersey,” he said.
During a congressional hearing on Tuesday, Smith said an officer saw “50 drones” coming in off the ocean earlier this week in Ocean County. He has also said that a U.S. Coast Guard commanding officer stationed in Barnegat Light reported that “between 12 and 30” drones were following a USCG motor lifeboat over the weekend.
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker has called for greater transparency from federal authorities on the unexplained drone activity in a letter on Tuesday to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
“I recognize the need to maintain operational security of ongoing investigations and that this situation requires complex interagency coordination. However, there is a growing sense of uncertainty and urgency across the state — from constituents and local officials alike — despite assurances that the drones pose no known threats to public safety,” he stated in the letter. “As such, I urge you to share any relevant information about these drone sightings with the public. Without transparency, I believe that rumors, fear, and misinformation will continue to spread.”
The public should be “immediately briefed” by federal agencies, including the FBI, FAA and DHS, on what they know, New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer said.
“I think people have a right to know what’s going on,” he told ABC News Live anchor Kayna Whitworth on Wednesday.
Gottheimer, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, noted he is “not concerned there’s any imminent threats to security” in New Jersey or D.C. based on the briefings he’s had.
“That said, you can’t just fly drones anywhere,” he said. “This can’t just be game on. We need to know who these drones belong to, where they’re coming from. And if they’re not welcome, we’ve got to take them out.”
Police in Warren County, New Jersey, have also expressed frustration at the “lack of transparency” over the drone activity.
“We are shocked by the lack of response or update from Federal and State officials,” Chief Scott D. Robb, president of the Warren County Police Chief’s Association, said in a statement Wednesday. “We do not agree with their response that there is no known threat to the public at this time. It is our stance that just the unidentified drone flying over us is a threat in itself.”
DHS said in its handout on the New Jersey drones that there have been other drone sightings “of this type” both nationally and internationally.
Biden has been briefed on the drones and is “closely tracking the activity” and “coordinating closely” with DHS and the FBI to continue investigating these incidents, the White House said Tuesday.
“This is something that DHS and FBI are tracking very, very closely,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday.
The U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM) is also monitoring reports of “unauthorized drone flights in the vicinity of military installations in New Jersey,” a spokesperson said.
“Local law enforcement and the FBI are currently investigating,” the spokesperson said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that at this time NORTHCOM has not been requested to assist with the events but is prepared to respond “when asked or should the situation escalate to threaten any DoD installations.”
ABC News’ Jay O’Brien, Alexandra Faul, Ayesha Ali and Matthew Seyler contributed to this report.
(BURBANK, Calif.) — A woman is facing felony charges after she allegedly was hired as a nurse at several California hospitals using “a variety of false identities” despite not having a nursing license, according to the Burbank Police Department.
Amanda Leeann Porter, 44, allegedly impersonated a registered nurse at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank. She allegedly applied for and obtained a nursing job at the medical center and was overseeing about 60 patients from April 8 to May 8, according to police.
Hospital staff then soon discovered she was impersonating a real registered nurse who lived out of state, according to police.
By the time she was terminated from the hospital, she had received two paychecks, police said.
She does not hold a nursing license and is on federal probation for a fraud violation committed in Virginia, police said.
During their investigation, police discovered she had previously obtained employment with various local hospitals using a variety of false identities, police said.
Porter was arrested on Nov. 7 after she bonded out of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s custody for a similar act committed at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital in Santa Clarita, police said.
On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office charged Porter with felony identity theft, felony false impersonation and felony grand theft.
She was arraigned on Wednesday and is currently being held without bail at the Los Angeles County Central Regional Detention Facility in Lynwood, police said.
Police believe she may have committed similar offenses in the Southern California area over the past year and are asking anyone with information to come forward.
