A former Virginia nurse is facing charges after allegations that she intentionally hurt and abused at least one infant, 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 and one count of felony malicious wounding for an injury to a newborn at Henrico Doctors’ Hospital in Richmond in November 2024.
While Strotman, 26, has only been charged with one incident, lawyers say a local and state investigation is ongoing into more than half a dozen babies who suffered fractures over the course of a year.
“While one person has been arrested for allegedly inflicting injury on a single victim, I would emphasize that this is an ongoing investigation involving potential offenses committed in both 2023 and 2024,” Shannon Taylor, the Henrico County commonwealth’s lawyer, told USA Today.
In a statement released on Christmas Eve 2024, the hospital stated that 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 stated in the statement, clarifying that Strotman no longer works there.
Dominique Hackey, the father of one of the injured babies, told CNN that his wife gave birth to premature twin boys in September 2023, and the infants were admitted to the NICU for treatment.
Seven days after birth, one of the twins’ legs was discovered to be bruised and broken.
“I was confused and heartbroken,” Hackey told the publication. “I am a first-time parent. I have no experience in the medical field. Are you telling me that my baby has a fracture? How did this happen? They’d been scanned before, and they’d have said something if anything had come up (at the time).
While the incident was reported and investigated at the time, Hackey stated that it was determined to be an injury during one of his son’s injections, and the case was closed.
He informed ABC affiliate WRIC that his son’s case has been reopened.
“We want to be clear: Noah did not have a bone disease. It wasn’t an accident. “It wasn’t from his birth,” Hackey explained. “Somebody did this to our son and we’re going to find out who did this.”
As the hospital investigates, it has announced that it will not accept any more babies into its NICU and will transfer them to other facilities once they are stabilized.
It also stated that it is taking steps to increase the unit’s security, such as installing livestreaming cameras and ensuring that all caregivers participate in safety training programs.
Strotman has been denied bond and ordered by the court not to contact children under the age of 18.
Scott Cardani, the public defender representing Strotman, told ABC News on Tuesday that she has not yet entered a plea and declined to comment on the charges. She is scheduled to return to court for a hearing in late March.
Hackey told Fox5 Washington that all of the victims, believed to be seven in total, were boys.
He stated that, while all victims had different injuries and came from non-white families, there were no other commonalities.
However, Henrico County police officials were quick to dismiss online speculation that Strotman targeted victims based on their race.
The police division responded to the accusations on Tuesday, stating that they were aware of multiple “editorial social media videos” discussing the investigation and promoting racially motivated theories about the alleged abuse.
The statement read: “Henrico Police is aware of editorial social media videos discussing the Henrico Doctors’ Hospital NICU investigation.
“The individuals in the video claim that the suspect targeted the victims because of their race.
“The preliminary investigation indicates this information is not factual.”
The case is similar to that of British serial killer nurse Lucy Letby, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2023 for the murder of seven babies and the attempted murder of six others. In July 2024, Letby was also found guilty of attempting to kill a premature baby girl.
Witnesses at Letby’s 2023 trial testified that she waited until infants were left alone in the hospital before attacking. She killed seven infants by injecting air into their stomachs and bloodstreams.
Letby also attempted to take the lives of six other newborns by lacing feeding bags with insulin, overfeeding, and physical assault.
She has never admitted any wrongdoing and has maintained her innocence throughout the trial and retrial.
