Thread: Nanny admits shaking infant

http://insidebayarea.com/sanmateocounty ... ci_3650189

Nanny admits shaking infant
Judge raises bail, refuses request for release
By Malaika Fraley, STAFF WRITER
Inside Bay Area

The nanny accused of injuring a 3-month-old Redwood Shores boy admitted to police that she shook the infant and may have struck him in the head with a telephone, a prosecutor said Tuesday.
Minerva Rojas, 28, sat in shackles with her head hung low during a hearing in which Judge Marc Forcum raised her bail from $200,000 to $1 million. Her attorney, Randy Moore, had requested the bail hearing in hopes of lowering the bail and possibly getting Rojas released on her own recognizance. She has pleaded not guilty to two counts of child abuse and one count of assault.

"It's (child abuse) one of the most serious types of offenses that we see, short of homicide," Judge Forcum said. "I don't want to see her potentially putting other children at risk."

Rojas, a Mexican national who lives with her parents in East Palo Alto, was arrested March 16 when paramedics responding to a neighbor's 9-1-1 call found the baby unconscious.

The infant was hospitalized at UCSF Medical Center for several days, where an expert concluded that his injuries were consistent with Shaken Baby Syndrome. Prosecutor Morris Maya said the baby was kept in an incubator for hemorrhaging that caused pressure on his brain. He also suffered retinal hemorrhaging in addition to the two skull fractures.

Prosecutors said Tuesday the child has been released from the hospital, but the long-term prognosis for his condition, which could include brain damage, is still uncertain.

Rojas originally told police that the baby fell off a couch while she was out of the room. Moore said Rojas' alleged omission that she shook and possibly struck the child was one of several statements she made during a police interrogation that stretched on for up to four hours.

The parents of the child sat in the back of the courtroom during Rojas' bail hearing, dressed in suits and clutching each other's hands tightly. The mother, who appears to be in her late 20s, was holding tissue.

Rojas' parents entered the hearing late and sat down on the opposite side, in view of theirdaughter.

In his fight to get Rojas released from jail, Moore submitted letters from numerous individuals who wrote the court on Rojas' behalf, including parents who said they would still hire her to watch their children despite the criminal charges against her. Rojas has no history of violence, Moore said, and had a fine reputation in the child-care field before her arrest.

Maya argued that Rojas is a flight risk because of her familial ties in Mexico. She has a Mexican ID card issued Jan. 9, 2003, and may flee to the country to avoid the 12-year prison sentence she is facing in this case, Maya said. He added that Rojas is on probation for misdemeanor petty theft in Santa Clara County.

San Mateo County has identified three deaths from Shaken Baby Syndrome from 2002 to 2004, said Anand Chabra, the county's director of maternal, child and adolescent health. "The numbers are small, but the outcome is tragic," Chabra told San Mateo County supervisors Tuesday morning, just before they designated April as Child Abuse Awareness Month. "We know this is just the tip of the iceberg. This is a serious problem."

To help educate would-be parents on how to deal with crying children, the San Mateo County Child Abuse Prevention Council will talk to four classes of teenagers April 6 at Redwood High School.

Rojas returns to court Monday, when a preliminary hearing will decide if there's enough evidence to bring her to trial.

Learn more about Shaken Baby Syndrome at http://www.dontshake.com.

Staff writer Laura Ernde contributed to this report.

Contact staff writer Malaika Fraley at (650) 306-2425 or by e-mail at mfraley@sanmateocountytimes.com.


Not the first time she was in trouble with the law.

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercuryn ... 208181.htm

However, Maya revealed that Rojas was arrested in Palo Alto in Aug. 2004 for petty theft, and was sentenced to probation for two years.

http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_p ... p?id=56374

Nanny pleads not guilty
By Michelle Durand
The severe head injuries that may leave a Redwood City baby blind and mentally impaired are not the result of criminal acts by a 28-year-old nanny but a tragic accident not in line with the woman’s years of commendable child care experience, according to the woman’s defense attorney.

During Minerva Rojas’ brief arraignment Tuesday, however, prosecutor Melissa McKowan, emphasized the 77-day-old baby’s two skull fractures, including one pressing on his brain, as one reason to ask that her $200,000 bail be hiked to $1 million while the case unfolds. McKowan also noted Rojas’ Mexican nationality and jail visits by family bearing Mexican identifications as an indication she may be a flight risk.

Defense attorney Randy Moore disagreed, instead asking for a bail reduction, and a hearing was set for Tuesday afternoon. Moore said he hopes for supervised release on her own recognizance but at the least will ask for an amount that might be met by “a person of modest means.”

As multiple news cameras took aim in the courtroom, Rojas stood just out of sight while entering a plea of not guilty to felony charges of child end endangerment, child cruelty and assault with a deadly weapon. She could face up to 12 years in prison and potential deportation if ultimately convicted. She returns to court April 3 for an estimated two-hour preliminary hearing on the evidence at which prosecutor Morris Maya is expected to take over the case.

While Rojas stood in court listening to the proceedings through a Spanish language interpreter, the boy she is accused of injuring remains hospitalized in San Francisco while doctors wait to determine the lasting effects of his multiple fractures and massive brain hemorrhages.

Redwood City police arrested Rojas March 17, the day after she called 911 to report the baby injured. Emergency personnel responding to the Redwood Shores area home discovered him unconscious and doctors later diagnosed multiple skull fractures and massive brain hemorrhages. After transfer to the medical center at the University of California at San Francisco, experts said there is at least a chance of blindness.

Rojas initially told police the baby rolled off a couch but doctors believe his injuries are more indicative of Shaken Baby Syndrome, the collective term used to describe what happens when a baby is violently agitated.

Moore declined to discuss the details of the incident but reiterated numerous times that his “deeply saddened” and “terrified” client did not purposely injury her ward.

“As horrific an event as this was for everyone involved it was nothing more than a tragic accident,” Moore said outside the courtroom. “Everyone involved certainly regrets what happened and our prayers are with the family.”

Rojas has a long history of “commendable” child care experience, Moore said, although he could not offer a specific resume.

The boy’s family hired Rojas as a nanny after meeting her at the day care center their 3-year-old son attends. Moore could not deny or confirm Rojas’ status as a documented worker but said she has worked for licensed facilities.

“This is not a situation of hiring cheap labor to watch the children,” he said. “This is a woman who was extremely well qualified in raising children.”

Michelle Durand can be reached by e-mail: michelle@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 102. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com



http://www.smdailyjournal.com/article_p ... p?id=56879

Nanny to trial for child abuse
By Michelle Durand
A 28-year-old nanny told police she shook and struck a 3-month-old baby in her care earlier this month in an attempt to wake him after he lost consciousness, according to a Redwood City detective who testified during the woman’s preliminary hearing Monday.

Minerva Martinez Rojas, of East Palo Alto, used a stuffed bear to demonstrate how she shook the 77-day-old baby, identified only as Thomas, during a three-hour voluntary interview March 17, the day after she called police to her employers’ Redwood Shores home.

Rojas never veered from the admission of shaking the boy and even said she struck him on the head and grabbed his face, testified Detective Mike Reynolds.

After Rojas maintained the baby fell from the front room couch while she checked on burning eggs in the kitchen, Reynolds lied that the family installed a ‘Nanny Cam’ while showing Rojas what was actually a blank videotape.

The ruse led Rojas to offer different accounts of what happened, beginning first with claims he rolled from a couch to the carpeted floor 19 inches below, switching to holding the baby and possible hitting his head with a telephone or refrigerator and eventually settling on tripping over a toy and dropping the boy.

The prosecution believes Rojas threw the baby out of frustration.

At the end of the interview, Rojas was arrested and charged with child abuse and assault with a deadly weapon. Rojas has pleaded not guilty but after the preliminary hearing, Judge Beth Freeman ordered her to stand trial on all three felonies. If convicted, Rojas faces up to a dozen years in prison and possible deportation.

Dressed in orange jail sweats with her hair pulled up, Rojas listened to the proceedings via a Spanish language interpreter but remained silent. She kept her head lowered through most of the testimony and occasionally appeared to shake. Behind her, Rojas’ family watched the proceedings but the parents of baby Thomas were absent.

The couple, identified only as Scott and Michelle, hired Rojas after she contacted them prior to the Dec. 27 birth of their son. They met when Rojas worked at the day care facility attended by their older daughter. After approximately two months of working at home, the mother left the children completely in Rojas’ care. There were no complaints about her work but she had repeatedly asked the couple for pay advances and donations, including one the Sunday before Thomas was injured, according to Reynolds.

Shortly before noon March 16, Rojas went to a neighbor with the limp baby in her arms and asked to call an ambulance. The neighbor reported seeing Rojas toss the baby over her shoulder and “forcibly” slapping his back as she walked away, Reynolds said.

The neighbor told police the baby was gray and lifeless, leading her to believe he was already dead.

The child was transferred to the medical center at the University of California at San Francisco where doctors diagnosed a depressed skull fracture likely from external trauma, a second fracture and hemorrhaging of the brain and retina. The baby is home from the hospital but doctors predicted he may be blind in at least one eye and suffer impaired motor skills.

Rojas was arrested on $200,000 bail but a judge hiked it to $1 million after prosecutor Morris Maya last week detailed the baby’s injuries and mentioned the possibility she struck him with a telephone.

Monday’s preliminary hearing was the first public airing of theories outside of the phone and the baby falling off a couch. Reynolds said he didn’t believe the story about the couch because both Rojas and the baby’s father said the infant had yet to learn to roll over. Rojas also reported placing the baby face up on the couch and finding him face up on the floor — details Reynolds said didn’t seem likely.

UCSF pediatrician Dr. Christopher Stewart also agreed the baby’s injuries are not consistent with a short fall. The retinal hemorrhages, skull bleeding and even fractures would be understandable from an incident like a car accident but is “very worrisome for child abuse” otherwise, he said.

Most telling, Stewart said, is the depressed fracture which he likened to a cracked eggshell in which a piece is pushed down. The injury is typical only when the skull strikes an object and is very unusual in a short fall, he said.

“Those injuries, in my mind, are not consistent with a fall off a couch, he said.

The fracture also wouldn’t occur from simply shaking an infant, he added.

Under questioning by defense attorney Randy Moore, Stewart admitted there are minority medical opinions about the cause of such fractures and said data about shaking babies is limited because information comes after the fact rather than from models of live children.

Before the hearing, Moore said his client’s case may be colored by the political landscape and the baggage of child care stereotypes.

“I don’t think this case fits the facts of a shaken baby case but it bleeds over,” he said.

Rojas remains in custody and returns to court April 18 to enter a Superior Court plea.


Michelle Durand can be reached by e-mail: michelle@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 102. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.

Another one of Bush's willing workers.

The nanny accused of injuring a 3-month-old Redwood Shores boy admitted to police that she shook the infant and may have struck him in the head with a telephone, a prosecutor said Tuesday.

Not that it's ok to hit a baby with a phone, but how could she NOT know if she struck a 3 month old infant with a telephone!?? What was this woman on!??! Ghastly!!! I agree, hadenuf, the parents who would still consider this woman a viable provider should have their children taken away and their heads examined!!!