Woman Held in Kidnaping Bid

A woman who allegedly tried to steal a 6-month-old boy from White Memorial Medical Center has been arrested and booked on a kidnaping charge, police said.

Elizabeth Lee was being held Sunday at Sybil Brand Institute in lieu of $6,000 bond. Lee, 39, lives in Los Angeles, according to police.

The baby, who was being treated for diarrhea, was not injured and was scheduled to go home Sunday afternoon. His name was withheld by hospital authorities. “The mother knows about it but doesn’t want the father to know about it,” nursing supervisor Joanna Taylor said.

Nurses at the East Los Angeles hospital noticed a woman haunting the newborn ward and walking around a nurses’ station Friday, Taylor said. The woman left after being asked to go, Taylor said.

Saturday, the woman returned “so they kind of kept an eye on her,” Taylor said.

On the second-floor pediatric ward, a nurse saw the woman emerge from a room holding the baby and heading for the elevator. “The nurse took the baby, hollered at the other nurse to call security and security caught her on the third floor,” Taylor said.

The baby had been in a room with another infant, Taylor said. “I’ve worked here 25 years and never have I ever seen anything like that,” she said.

Infants are being moved closer to the nurses’ station as a result of the incident, Taylor said.