Lisa Maines wanted to "hold a baby"

[Wicked Doll]

She doesn't look like she's all there.

http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss306/wicked_doll777/maines.jpg

The defense attorney for a Millville woman charged with attempting to kidnap a baby from South Jersey Healthcare Regional Medical Center in Vineland revealed a detail about his client Friday in court further complicating what police described as "a strange set of circumstances."

Lisa Maines, 34, arrested last week after SJH staff reported she attempted to gain access to a nursery at the hospital after-hours by allegedly posing as a midwife and a law enforcement officer so that - in her words - she could "hold a baby," is already the mother to children, including a 1-year-old child, according to Lee Hughes, Maines' attorney.

Hughes revealed this fact during an attempt to have Maines' bail reduced - a request that was denied by Superior Court Judge Robert Becker.

Members of Maines' family were present in court.

Maines told police after her arrest that she had no intention of kidnapping a baby and just wanted to hold one.

Assistant Prosecutor Dara Paley said in court that a search of Maines' home led investigators to believe her intentions were more than that.

"We found a fully packed diaper bag with all the items for the care of an infant: diapers, formula. This defendant has children of her own but the items of her own are not age appropriate for any of them. The diaper bag was near a suitcase. It is believe she intended to leave New Jersey for the state of Florida a few days later," Paley said.

Hughes responded that the items were appropriate for Maines' 1-year-old child.

In spite of this, Becker said that Maines' bail, which is set at $50,000 full cash, was fully appropriate for the charges she was facing.

http://www.nj.com/south/index.ssf/2009/04/woman_charged_with_attempted_b.html

[smallwonder4]

Well I'm glad she failed. Shit, I went to see my cousin after his baby was born and I had to look at the whole family through glass until they left the hospital. I couldn't pass the reception desk, they wheeled the family out to the glass door and then I oohed and ahhed at the new little pink thing.

I love to hold babies. I used to get to hold more babies when I worked at a daycare, but now I have a friend with a 3 month old who I hold if Mom is busy. I would KILL if some stranger made it into the nursery and picked up my baby, or any of my friends/familys' babies though. Starting with the stranger, and all the way through the staff who allowed it to happen.

I'm so glad this loon has been exposed. I hope her kids find a safe place until mommy gets her meds right or just find a better family to be raised by.

[Nell]

You can volunteer in the NICU if you just want to hold babies. My son was in the NICU for 2 weeks and I sometimes came to the hospital to find a stranger holding him. It was weird for me, but when you can't be there 24/7 the "baby rockers" give the preemies that skin to skin contact they need.

[HijabiGirl]

She didn't want to hold a baby, the suitcase next to the diaper bag leads me to believe she was going to sell that baby on the black market. She has a child so I don't think she was dealing with some unfulfilled desire to have a child at any cost.

She does look a bit....off.

[Wicked Doll]

She has a Facebook account and her picture there looks a lot more sane. I wonder if she isn't dealing with some mental health issues. She is being evaluated at the moment.

Kudos to Joy Grant for having a great hinky meter.

Facebook page (I think that's her) http://www.123people.com/ext/frm?ti=person%20finder&search_term=lisa%20maines&search_country=*&st=person%20finder&target_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpeople% 2FLisa-Maines%2F1218471790


“Very scary. I think in over 20 years of being in this field, I never experienced this on this close a level,” said Marjorie Pollock, RN/MSN, the director of women’s and children’s services at the hospital.

Maines certainly looked the part, investigators said Thursday. The Millville woman was wearing scrubs, official-looking badges and carrying two large bags when she walked into Regional Medical Center’s emergency department around 1 a.m. Wednesday, police said.

According to authorities, she was then granted access to other parts of the hospital. Police said she used the name of an actual employee to try to get into the locked maternity unit, where several newborns were at the time. Maines is a mother of four but her children are not in her care, detectives told NBC 10 News.

“Her state of mind put her in a position that we believe that she would have taken a child if she had been able to gain access to that child,” said Vineland Police Lt. Tom Ulrich.

A labor and delivery unit secretary -- identified by hospital officials as Joy Gant -- who answered a video intercom became suspicious and refused to open the doors for Maines, police said. Hospital security officers were summoned and questioned Maines, at which point she claimed to be an undercover DEA agent and a Florida State Trooper, investigators said.

Guards escorted Maines out of the hospital and police were notified of the alleged incident later that morning. Investigators tracked down Maines in Millville and arrested her on the serious charges of criminal attempted kidnapping, criminal attempted burglary, and impersonating a law enforcement officer.

“Everything that happened from beginning to end is going to be reviewed to see if we can do something better,” said Charlie Schiapelli, the hospital’s director of safety and security, when asked about why security personnel allegedly granted Maines access to the hospital and then allowed her to leave before police were called.

Police said there is evidence that Maines was purporting to be a midwife. She even claimed on a birthing-oriented web site that she is able to assist with births, police said. Investigators told NBC 10 News they have found no evidence that she has such qualifications.

“When our detectives interviewed her, she said her intentions were just to hold the baby,” Ulrich said.

No one answered the door when NBC 10 News stopped by Maines’ home Thursday afternoon. She is being evaluated at a local psychiatric facility, police said.

Meanwhile, both authorities and hospital administrators offered words of praise for Gant, the secretary, who they said stopped Lisa Maines before she was able to get close to any newborns.

“She’s our hero. We love her…She protected our staff and patients and babies,” Pollock said.

http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/Police-Think-Imposter-Was-After-Babies.html

[HijabiGirl]

Maines is a mother of four but her children are not in her care, detectives told NBC 10 News.


Well that changes my POV considerably. Yeah, she was stealing the baby for herself.

[Misskittychaos]

Uhh...I seriously want kids but I would NEVER steal a baby. Hell, yesterday DH and I were driving and there was a child, about 6 months old LEFT OUTSIDE ALONE, in the driveway of a house in a bouncy. My first thought was "wtf, why isn't anyone watching that child?" No thoughts of taking the baby what so ever.

I'm curious why her kids aren't with her.

[FlamingFox]

Posted on the FP.

http://www.dreamindemon.com/

[Wicked Doll]

Posted on the FP.

http://www.dreamindemon.com/

Thanks FlamingFox. Great write up. :smile: