WASHINGTON — Police say the owner of a day care in Rockville, Maryland, nearly shook a baby to death, then pretended to save her.
ABC7 reports that Ana Valentin, 40, was arrested and charged with first- and second-degree child abuse in the incident, which happened Jan. 5.
The Montgomery County police tell ABC7 that Valentin called 911 from the My Angel and Me Day Care Center, located in Valentin’s hone on Parkvale Terrace. She supposedly told the dispatcher that a 6-month-old girl in her care was unconscious and wasn’t breathing, after she’d left the baby in a swing while she answered the door. Valentin said that she performed CPR on the baby after finding her in distress.
But after paramedics took the baby to the Children’s National Medical Center, in D.C., they found brain hemorrhaging indicating shaken baby syndrome. The baby had seizures while she was in intensive care, and doctors fear she will have permanent side effects.
ABC7 says Valentin’s husband is a D.C. probation officer, and that she claims the baby had a “regular, normal day” before the incident. Valentin’s lawyer tells ABC7 that Valentin “categorically denies” the charges.
ABC7 reports that the day cares license has been revoked, and that records indicate that state authorities have cited Valentin’s day care 10 times since 2013 for various violations.
See a report from ABC7:
