An unlicensed childcare worker who has been charged with felony child abuse claims that she “would rather be deported than go to jail.”
Elvira Ortega, 66, who runs an unlicensed daycare center with her daughter from her home in Salt Lake City, Utah, was arrested and charged with felony child abuse after the parents of a baby boy in her care brought him to the hospital with two broken legs, the Miami Herald reports. Police have reported that the infant was less than a year old.
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On Wednesday, Feb. 28, Salt Lake City Police said that Ortega admitted to slamming the infant feet-first onto the bathroom floor, resulting in both of the baby’s legs breaking below the knees. She then told officials that she would “rather be deported than go to jail.”
Salt Lake City Police Detective Greg Wilking said that Ortega and her daughter had been caring for multiple children at the time of the incident, which occurred on Friday, Feb. 23.
According to Fox 13, police had declined to comment on Ortega’s immigration status, but they did claim that they believed her to be a flight risk.
Earlier this week, it was reported that a daycare worker in Milwaukee was facing charges after allegedly suffocating three babies in her care, including her own son.
Nancy Moronez, 60, was arrested by Milwaukee police and faces three counts of second-degree murder in relation to the deaths of three babies in 1980, 1984, and 1985 while she was their babysitter. Her arrest came after her daughter told police that Moronez had confessed to suffocating Moronez’s son with a garbage bag in 1980.
An investigation opened into the infant’s death revealed that two other infants had died while in Moronez’s care. Their deaths, originally ruled to be a result of SIDS, have since been deemed homicides after Moronez confessed to holding blankets of the babies’ faces until they stopped moving because she “can’t take kids that constantly cry.”
Moronez has since been charged with three counts of second-degree murder.
