RIVERSIDE — A 25-year-old woman who posed as a nurse and snatched a newborn from her mother at Riverside University Medical Center in Moreno Valley pleaded guilty Tuesday to kidnapping.
Jesenea Miron of Moreno Valley admitted the felony count, as well as a sentence-enhancing allegation of intent to deprive a parent of their child, under a pretrial agreement with the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. In exchange for her admissions, prosecutors agreed to drop three related counts against Miron.
Superior Court Judge Emma Smith scheduled a sentencing hearing for Sept. 10 at the Riverside Hall of Justice. There was no specification as to a likely term of imprisonment or jail time.
Miron remains held without bail at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning.
Her case went inactive for nearly two years while she was diverted into a mental health treatment program operated by the Riverside University Health System and monitored by the court. That process concluded last week.
According to sheriff’s Sgt. Richard Fransik, on the morning of July 15, 2022, the defendant accessed the medical center campus on Cactus Avenue and identified herself as a newly hired nurse, enabling her to enter the maternity ward.
Fransik said while on the ward, Miron entered a room occupied by a woman and her infant daughter. The defendant introduced herself as a nurse.
“While inside the patient’s room, she attempted to take the newborn,” he said. “The suspect was confronted by hospital staff, who then notified security.”
Court documents indicated that the baby was briefly in the defendant’s possession but was not removed from the hospital and was not harmed, nor was the mother, whose identity was not released.
Miron fled before deputies assigned to the medical center could apprehend her. However, detectives followed up and were able to procure evidence confirming the defendant’s identity, according to Fransik.
A search warrant was served at her residence on Weber Avenue a couple of days later, resulting in “items of evidentiary value” being seized, the sergeant said.
She was taken into custody without incident.
In the wake of Miron’s arrest, medical center CEO Jennifer Cruikshank said that “security protocols” were “reviewed and reinforced, and we have additional sheriff’s deputies on campus.”
She credited her “vigilant staff” with preventing Miron from escaping the hospital with the infant.
She had no documented prior felony or misdemeanor convictions in Riverside County.
