A former nurse in Virginia is facing charges after allegations that she intentionally hurt and abused at least one infant, and possibly more, in a hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
Erin Elizabeth Ann Strotman of Chesterfield County has been charged with one count of felony child neglect, as well as one count of felony malicious wounding for an injury sustained by a newborn at the Henrico Doctors’ Hospital in Richmond in November 2024.
And while Strotman, 26, has only been charged with the one incident so far, lawyers say there’s an ongoing local and state investigation in connection with more than half a dozen babies who suffered fractures during the span of more than a year.
“While there has been an arrest for one person for allegedly inflicting injury on a single victim, I would emphasize this is an ongoing investigation spanning potential offences committed in both 2023 and 2024,” Shannon Taylor, the Henrico County commonwealth’s lawyer told USA Today.
In a statement shared on Christmas Eve 2024, the hospital said employees in late November and December discovered three NICU babies with unexplained fractures, “similar to an incident involving four babies in the summer of 2023.”
“We initiated a thorough internal investigation, informed the families and notified the proper authorities and regulatory agencies and worked collaboratively with them on their investigations,” the hospital wrote in the statement, clarifying that Strotman no longer works there.
Dominique Hackey, a father of one of the injured babies, told CNN his wife gave birth to premature twin boys in September 2023 and the infants were admitted to the NICU for care.
Seven days after they were born, a leg of one of the twins was found to be bruised and broken.
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“I was confused and heartbroken,” Hackey told the outlet. “I’m a first-time parent. I have no background in the medical field. You’re telling me my baby has a fracture? How did it happen? They had been scanned before, and they’d have said something if anything had popped up (at that time).”
Hackey said that while the incident was reported and investigated at the time, it was deemed an injury during one of his son’s injections and the file was closed.
He told ABC affiliate WRIC that his son’s case has now 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 the hospital investigates, it announced it would not be accepting any more babies to its NICU and would transfer them to other facilities once they are stabilized.
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It also said it is taking steps to make the unit more secure, including livestreaming camera installation and making sure all caregivers participate in safety training programs.
For now, Strotman has been denied bond and ordered by the court not to have any contact with children under the age of 18.
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. She is expected back in court for a hearing in late March.
Hackey told Fox5 Washington that all of the victims, presumed to be seven in total, were boys.
He said that while all victims suffered different injuries and came from non-white families, there were no other common factors.
Henrico County police officials, however, were quick to shut down online speculation that Strotman targeted victims based on race.
The police division addressed the accusations on Tuesday, writing in a statement that they were aware of multiple “editorial social media videos” discussing the investigation and promoting racially motivated theories for the alleged abuse.
A statement read: “Henrico Police is aware of editorial social media videos discussing the Henrico Doctors’ Hospital NICU investigation.
“These individuals in the video claim the victims were targeted by the suspect on account of their race.
“The preliminary investigation indicates this information is not factual.”
The case echoes that of British serial killer nurse Lucy Letby, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2023 for the murder of seven babies and attempted murder of six others. In July of 2024, Letby was also found guilty of trying to kill a premature baby girl.
Letby waited until infants were left alone in hospital before attacking, witnesses testified during her 2023 trial. She killed seven infants by injecting air into their stomachs and bloodstreams. Letby also made attempts on the lives of six other newborns by lacing feeding bags with insulin, overfeeding and physical assault.
She has never admitted to any wrongdoing and maintained her innocence throughout her trial and retrial.