A nanny has been charged with child abuse and endangering the welfare of a child after she was caught on camera Tuesday abusing the 6-month-old baby a Hoboken couple left in her care, police said.
The Hoboken couple hired Dechen Kyiden, 22, five weeks ago through an online website, reports said.
On Monday, the couple activated three cameras in their living room, office and the baby’s bedroom to give
themselves peace of mind, reports said, noting the family had not suspected Kyiden of inappropriate or unacceptable behavior prior to installing the cameras.
On Tuesday, the couple viewed the tapes and saw Kyiden dropping their son from a height of a few inches onto a blanket on the floor, which upset the baby, reports said.
As the child cried, Kyiden was seen hitting his arm four times before kicking and hitting his buttocks, reports said.
When Kyiden was confronted about the footage, she said she wasn’t feeling well and had a headache, reports said.
The couple told police they fired her on the spot and she left the apartment quietly. They did not file a complaint with police until later because they were too upset and confused after the incident, reports said.
Police at the family’s Maxwell Place home said the child appeared to be unharmed and healthy, reports said.
Kyiden has not been found, but Hoboken police said they believe she lives in Jackson Heights, Queens, and that they are confident they will find her.
Police request that anyone with information about Kyiden’s whereabouts contact the Hoboken Detectives Bureau at (201) 420-2110.
Posted on Wed, May. 4, 2011
Nanny cam films patient's abuse,
triggers charges at Haverford facility
By Mari A. Schaefer
Inquirer Staff Writer
Almost from the time Lois McCallister was moved to the dementia unit at the Quadrangle nursing-care facility, her daughter says there were troubling signs.
Her mother's $5,000 hearing aids went missing, Mary French said. Staff members were overheard shouting at one another. Insurance forms, to be filled out by the staff, went unfinished.
But it was her mother's claim that people were hitting her that sent Mary French and her husband, Paul, to their computer.
"I Googled Nanny cam," Paul French said Tuesday. With a few more keystrokes and $250 on a credit card, he bought a nanny cam to secretly place in his mother-in-law's room.
A few nights later, the couple sat with their laptop and watched in horror as three caregivers hit and pulled on a half-naked McCallister.
The recording of the incident led Haverford police to bring charges against three workers at the nursing facility for allegedly abusing McCallister.
Last week, the Department of Public Welfare (DPW) revoked the license of the Quadrangle, on Darby Road in Haverford. It remains open pending an appeal of the decision.
Haverford Township police say they have since received about five calls concerning other possible cases of abuse at the facility. They referred two cases to Delaware County's Office of Services for the Aging (COSA), and DPW for investigation.
Louis Colbert, director of COSA, acknowledged his office was looking into more than one case of possible abuse at the Quadrangle. He declined to elaborate.
Mark Ordan, chief executive officer of Sunrise Senior Living, which owns the Quadrangle, defended his facility, saying the case involving McCallister was an aberration.
"We do a very good job," he said.
He said he expected the Quadrangle to get its licence restored on appeal.
Still, he acknowledged being greatly troubled by what the nanny cam uncovered.
"I was shocked by what I saw," Ordan said. He called the actions of the three former workers "simply appalling."
Tuesday, he held a closed-door meeting with residents to hear their concerns and to assure their safety and care.
Mary and Paul French are planning to file a civil suit, according to Robert Mongeluzzi, the family's attorney.
Mary French said the decision to move her mother to the Quadrangle came after much research and thought.
McCallister and her family searched for a facility that would provide the increasing levels of care that McCallister would need as her disease progressed.
"She knew what that road was," Mary French said. "She didn't want to become a burden to us."
The family settled on the Quadrangle in part because of its reputation - founded by Haverford College professors and Quaker philosophy - and for the three levels of care it offered.
In January 2009, McCallister moved into an apartment at the Quadrangle.
Two years later, after she was hospitalized for an infection, it was clear McCallister would need to move into assisted living. The staff recommended the 20-bed dementia unit, Reminiscence.
It was in that unit that her mother was found to have been tormented by workers.
"They took away her last remaining happiness," French said, her voice breaking and eyes welling with tears. "They robbed her of her dignity."
McCallister has since moved in with her daughter and her husband. Their daily life has been turned upside down as they juggle full-time jobs with full-time caregiving. They plan to care for McCallister on their own at this point.
"It is hard to trust after this," Mary French said
A baby sitter accused of nearly suffocating children to stop them from crying was convicted today of five felonies and seven misdemeanors in Franklin County Common Pleas Court.
Judge David E. Cain said Gianna Cochran is dangerous because the abuse she committed "is the kind of thing that doesn't leave any marks."
Cochran, 36, waived her right to a jury, leaving Cain to decide the case.
He convicted her on 12 of the 18 counts of child endangering based on videos that her then-live-in boyfriend secretly recorded with a so-called "nanny cam."
Franklin County Sheriff Deputies (from left to right) Mark Green, Dave Bryant and Charlie Macioci guard attorney Robert M. Sanders, front left, and Gianna Cochran, as Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge David E. Cain reads off numerous guilty verdicts.
Cain found her not guilty on six other counts because he couldn't see enough evidence of abuse on the videos linked to those allegations.
Family members of the children applauded when Cain revoked Cochran's bond and ordered her taken to jail until her sentencing hearing April 1. Each felony count is punishable by up to five years in prison.
The two-day trial was twice interrupted by family members who shouted at the defendant and were escorted from the courtroom by deputies.
Although views of the children were obstructed by furniture or Cochran on several of the videos, Cain said he could hear and see enough. In several, the children's cries become muffled or cut off as she appears to lean over them or place her weight on top of them. There was no evidence that any child was injured.
"When the child's face was covered or pressed against the defendant's chest, the natural conclusion would be that it was suffocation for a temporary period," the judge said. "When you add the audio to it, it's the only reasonable conclusion."
Cochran was indicted in April after the boyfriend captured video of her caring for their two daughters and several other children in their Far North Side townhouse in August and September 2009.
She testified that she was leaning over the children and soothing them, not obstructing their breathing.
Cain said he found her explanations "totally not credible.
A Chicago woman was charged early Thursday with aggravated battery of a 15-month-old girl after the girl's parents used a hidden camera to catch her choking and shaking the toddler, police said.
Andrea del Pilar Aguilar, 31, of the 2600 block of West Berwyn Avenue, was ordered held in lieu of $25,000 bail by Judge Ramon Ocasio III.
The girl's parents had hired Aguilar last year. Last week, after noticing the girl had become "increasingly withdrawn" and had bruising on her body, they installed a "nanny cam" in their home, according to a police report.
On Sunday, the parents reviewed footage of what had happened last Friday, and saw Aguilar "violently choking and shaking the victim while she sat in her highchair," according to the police report.
Aguilar was arrested at the family's home in the 500 block of North Racine Avenue at about 11:45 a.m. Wednesday and charged early Thursday, police said.Police noted in one report that Aguilar had to be consoled in a police lockup because "the arrestee was crying and very upset about what she did." The child was treated at Children's Memorial Hospital for bruising on her back, according to police and court records.
Aguilar is scheduled to appear in Cook County Circuit Court on March 3.
Flagler County detectives said the father of 2- and 4-year-old boys set up a camera and videotaped baby sitter Brandon Jaffe forcing the children to perform sex acts.
Friday, Jaffe took responsibility for his actions before his sentencing.
"It was my decision to manipulate you into doing those sexual acts," Jaffe said in court. "What I've done is horrible, and I can only imagine the hurt I've caused you."
Jaffe was videotaped with a look of shock and disbelief after learning his sentence.
The 16-year-old has been under house arrest in the victims' neighborhood for the last seven months.
The judge said Jaffe's crimes were far too heinous for him to be sentenced as a juvenile offender.
"No parent should have to go through this, and no parent should have to explain sexual things to a 2- or 4-year-old," the victim's father said. "This should not happen."
Jaffe turned 16 years old on Friday.
