Orleans daycare worker accused of deliberately burning infant’s hand in scalding water, NOPD says
NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - A Central City daycare worker was arrested Tuesday (Oct. 3) on allegations that she deliberately burned an infant’s hand in the scalding water of a heated bottle warmer, New Orleans police said.
Court records show Victoria Saulter, 27, was booked with second-degree cruelty to a juvenile. Her bond was set Wednesday at $35,000 in Orleans Parish Magistrate Court.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit sworn by NOPD child abuse detective Caitlyn Smith, the 6-month-old girl was dropped off at the McMillian’s First Steps Child Care at 2601 South Claiborne Ave. by her father around 7 a.m. on Sept. 22. The child’s mother received a call from the school at 3:50 p.m. to inform her that her daughter’s left hand had been burned.
The girl was taken to Children’s Hospital New Orleans for treatment of what doctors determined were second-degree burns. The burn injuries were so severe, doctors said the child would have scars and possibly lose the range of motion in her hand.
The victim’s mother said McMillian’s staff informed her that video surveillance footage showed Saulter plunging the infant’s left hand twice into a bottle warmer. The appliance heats water to a temperature as high as 194.5 degrees Fahrenheit, the detective wrote.
“Based on the surveillance footage from the facility, Victoria Saulter had control of the child who was solely in her care when she sustained her injuries,” the detective wrote. “The subject (Saulter) is seen removing a bottle from the bottle warmer ... (and) is then observed leaning over and placing the 6-month-old victim’s left hand into the bottle warmer twice.
“The victim is heard crying from the audio and (Saulter) is heard saying, ‘Good job.’”
Fox 8 called the childcare facility and spoke with Dr. P.W. Reed who said he is the director of operations and principal at McMillian’s. Reed told us McMillian’s monitors cameras all over the facility and has a detailed vetting process with an extensive interview and background check through the Department of Education.
“This is a lesson for us all to make sure that even as we are hiring people, that we are diligent to make sure that we are watching every single move of every single person,” Dr. P.W. Reed said.
Reed said they’ve never had an incident like this before. He also said Saulter was immediately fired, and they called police, child protective services and state licensing to report what happened.
“We do have the autonomy to make sure that we’re vetting even more carefully. That we’re watching more carefully every single thing that we’re doing. Our directors are going into classrooms. We have observationists that are going into classrooms, and we’re going to keep doing the due diligence that we’ve been doing for 36 years,” Reed said.
Reed said the center supports the victim and her family.
“We’re not going to give up here. We’re going to fight to the end until full prosecution is done to this person that had worked at our facility,” Reed said.
When asked if Saulter had a permanent residence when she was hired, Reed said she did provide her address. He said Saulter had worked for McMillian’s for about 5 months when the incident occurred.
“I knew that she was dealing with some sheltering issues and that’s all we knew. We knew that we could see that the young lady tried to a great job but there were times that she late and yes, we confronted those issues and we dealt with those issues, however a mental break is something that we do not have any control over,” Reed said.
Fox 8 legal analyst Joe Raspanti said second-degree cruelty to a juvenile is not a specific intent crime.
“It can be generally just gross negligence. But here there was specific intent, and that level of psychopathy needs to be looked at very carefully by the district attorney,” said Joe Raspanti. “[...] “It never ceases to amaze me how dark the hearts are of some of our citizenry. What that report says is very disturbing.”
If charged and convicted of the offense, Saulter would face up to 40 years in state prison.
“This one seems to be egregious than most and I think it’s incumbent upon the DA to consider that,” Raspanti said.
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