A woman hired to care for a couple’s infant son has been charged with child abuse after investigators learned of a nanny camera that recorded her shoving a used baby wipe inside the toddler’s mouth.
Elvira Talavera Perez, 43, also known as Elvira Torres, is charged with three counts of negligent child abuse. All three counts are third-degree felonies.
Las Cruces Police learned that the parents of a newborn child hired Perez in July 2011 to care for their son. In December 2011 the couple began noticing gold chains and earrings missing from their home so they set up a hidden camera in their bedroom where the jewelry was stored.
When the boy’s father returned home from work on Feb. 28, 2012, he reviewed video from the hidden camera and observed Perez throwing baby wipes on his son’s face and shoving one of the wipes inside the toddler’s mouth. The video also showed Perez dropping a dirty diaper on the 10-month-old boy’s face.
The video also caught images of Perez taking jewelry from the couple’s bedroom.
The video was turned over to Las Cruces Police detectives who completed the investigation. Perez was arrested on Wednesday and is being held at the Dona AnaCounty Detention Center on a $30,000 bond.