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BRPD: Woman repeatedly snuck into children's hospital, told boyfriend other family's baby was hers

7 months 4 weeks 9 hours ago Wednesday, March 27 2024 Mar 27, 2024 March 27, 2024 11:00 PM March 27, 2024 in News
Source: WBRZ

BATON ROUGE - A woman was arrested for attempted kidnapping after police said she repeatedly snuck into Our Lady of the Lake's children hospital, told her boyfriend that another family's baby was hers.

Dinesty Selmon, 21, was arrested for seven counts of unauthorized entry of a place of business and one count attempted kidnapping. Both are felonies.

According to an affidavit, Selmon fraudulently obtained a "Parent/Caregiver" badge when she did not have a child in the hospital. She was seen wearing the badge on the second floor of the hospital, which is restricted to parents and caregivers with children, or guests of those people, undergoing surgery.

Police say Selmon rang the doorbell of the PICU after visiting hours and told the staff she was there to visit, but she was not recognized as one of the patients' parents and was told visiting hours were over. A short time later, she followed behind a parent of a patient before she was escorted out yet again.

On February 22, she once again rang the doorbell, and was asked who she was there to visit. She said she was visiting her nephew, but could not provide a room number or name for the patient before she faked a phone call and left the wing.

On February 29, Selmon and her boyfriend went into the room of a nine-month old patient and told her boyfriend it was her child named "Lenyx Morgan". She also told him that he was the biological child of the boyfriend. The actual biological parents of the child did not know Selmon or her boyfriend.

The boyfriend, who became skeptical, talked with a nurse on March 1 who informed him there was no patient by the name Lenyx Morgan, let alone in the room they visited. The nurse was told Selmon planned on visiting the same room, and this time, she brought members of the boyfriend's family who she convinced was her child. She and the family made their way toward the room, but was denied entry. She was identified by her driver's license and was prohibited from returning to the hospital.

According to police, the boyfriend noticed during the visitation that the child had a different name on the door and a different name on the chalkboard from the one presented to him. Afterward, someone close to the boyfriend who was a registered nurse determined the information from Selmon was false and contacted nurses at Our Lady of the Lake, leading to the realization of a security breach.

Our Lady of the Lake provided a statement Friday saying there was no evidence Selmon accessed the child's patient records, nor did she make medical appointments with the child's information. The affidavit stated she made several doctor's appointments by phone and presented the same symptoms and illnesses of the child as her fictional child's illnesses.

The hospital also said Selmon provided false information to gain a guest badge, which identifies the guest and the location the guest is expected to visit. This differs from a Parent/Caregiver card.

After security gave the identification Selmon provided prior, police were able to arrest her in Shreveport and extradite her to Baton Rouge, according to Sgt. Darren Ahmed with the Baton Rouge Police Department.

Our Lady of the Lake released the following statement:

Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital is committed to providing a safe environment for those entrusted to our care during some of the most vulnerable moments of their young lives. As a best practice we continuously evaluate our security protocols and make adjustments, some visible and others not visible. After becoming aware of the malicious tactics employed by this individual and in coordination and consultation with law enforcement, we limited access to campus and implemented heightened visitation policies until law enforcement could neutralize any risk this person posed to our campus or community. 

This is an ongoing investigation.

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