Woman Accused of Trying to Kidnap Baby from Louisiana Children’s Hospital

Police arrested a woman on Tuesday who allegedly attempted to kidnap a baby from Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Dinesty Selmon, 21, is facing charges of attempted kidnapping and seven counts of unauthorized entry of a business, WGEM, a local news outlet reported.
Selmon allegedly cased out the hospital for weeks and somehow obtained an access card that allowed her to gain entrance to different parts of the building, according to Baton Rouge police.

Police said that while walking around the hospital, Selmon found a room with a baby with no parents present. Investigators later learned the baby was in intensive care and the parents did not live in Baton Rouge, according to the report.

“She may have thought that was a perfect opportunity to go in and act like this child was hers,” Sgt. Darren Ahmed of the Baton Rouge Police Department said.

Selmon was allegedly able to learn the baby’s medical history by reading charts, police said. Selmon allegedly then told her boyfriend she had a baby while traveling out of town and that the baby required treatment in Baton Rouge, the report states.

“She even took the young man to the hospital to visit with several doctors in hopes to schedule false or fictitious medical appointments for the child,” Ahmed said.

The boyfriend reportedly was suspicious when he arrived at the hospital and saw that the name on the door did not match the name Selmon had told him, police said. The boyfriend then notified a family friend who is a nurse, according to the report.

“She apparently picked up on that the apparent girlfriend that he was dating had provided him with some false information and created a fictitious story about a child that absolutely was not his or hers, and that she probably had not even given birth to a child,” Ahmed said.

Then the hospital became aware of a security breach, police said. When Selmon and her boyfriend came back to the hospital with his family, security confronted them and asked for Selmon’s identification, according to the report. Security retrieved the access card and asked her to leave.

“Selmon was arrested more than two weeks later in Shreveport,” according to the report.

Selmon, however, never took the baby from the hospital room, police said.

In a statement, Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital thanked police.

“Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital is committed to providing best-in-class pediatric care and to bringing a Spirit of Healing to our patients and our community,” the statement reads. “We value the trust the community has placed in us to care for children across the state and the safety of our patients is one of our highest priorities. We are grateful to local law enforcement for their support in this case. All additional questions should be directed to Baton Rouge Police Department.”