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Woman accused of stealing baby from NJ hospital

Healthcare Security Weekly, January 5, 2004

Police arrested a 22-year-old woman after she allegedly befriended a new mother in a Newark, NJ, hospital and stole her three-day-old baby on December 24, the New York Times reports.

Police tracked down Martina Allen within hours and returned the baby girl to her mother, Jasmine Wingate. Allen faces charges of kidnapping and endangering the welfare of a child. Investigators said she had told her family in Newark that she had given birth in Georgia, and she needed a baby to show them.

Wingate gave birth to her daughter at home on December 22 before being admitted that day to Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. Soon after she arrived, Wingate said, Allen entered her room, saying she was looking for her sister, who she claimed was giving birth in a room next door.

That story and Allens subsequent claim that she had a daughter in the emergency room both were false, police said. But Wingate believed Allen at the time, and befriended her.

Later, just before Wingate and her baby were to be discharged, Allen suggested Wingate take a shower while she watched the baby. Allen then took the baby, clipped off her security anklet, wrapped her in a blanket, and left. She managed to leave by passing a nursing station and at least one security guard. The hospital is investigating how the security breach occurred and how Allen was admitted to the maternity ward.

Police tracked Allen and the baby down at an address she had given to a relative of the babys father, whom she also met in the hospital. After police brought them back to the hospital, Allen continued to claim the baby was hers and got into a scuffle with Wingate before police arrested her.

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