Babysitter charged with burning 6-month-old girl's feet on scalding hot pan in Md.
BLADENSBURG, Md. (WJLA) - The house, on 54th Place in Bladensburg, looks like any other in this quiet neighborhood.
Except for what police say happened there a week ago: a caregiver and mother of two is accused of deliberately burning a six-month-old baby girl's feet.
"It's very cruel that she did that," says Maria Vivar, who lives nearby. "I mean, babies don't know, and it's obvious babies need to cry."
"The child's feet are severely blistered," adds acting Bladensburg Police Chief Tracy Stone. "Taken aback and shocked. I can't imagine."
Investigators say one week ago, Ismelda Ramos Mendoza, unable to stop the six-month-old baby's crying, did the unthinkable.
"The babysitter got frustrated and actually placed the feet of the child on a skillet that was cooking in the oven," Stone says.
Charging documents obtained by ABC7 News say that Mendoza later said nothing to the parents.
But those papers say the next morning the mother saw redness on her baby's feet and went to a pediatrician, who called 911.
Vivar describes Mendoza and her family as people of faith.
The 36-year-old caregiver lives at the home with her husband and two girls, ages 9 and 2.
"With all respect, I don't think she had to do that," Vivar says. "The baby didn't deserve it."
An emergency crew transported the burned infant to Children's Hospital. Staffers there called police.
According to the charging documents, Mendoza initially told detectives the baby's feet had come into contact with a hot tortilla in her hand. But detectives weren't buying the story.
"The burns were severe and did not seem to be from an accident," Stone says.
Police say Mendoza later confessed to using a cast-iron tortilla pan to burn the infant.
Doctors treated the six-month-old for second-degree burns on the bottoms of her feet and toes.
"This is a good person," says Numan Morales, Mendoza's next-door neighbor - and her pastor. "I don't know what happened."
Morales, the pastor at the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Hyattsville, says he's having a hard time believing the allegations.
"I know her for a long time, maybe 15 years," he says. "The lady, everything is good. Never a problem."
After two days in the hospital, the infant is recovering, police say.
Mendoza, now in jail, faces child abuse, assault and reckless endangerment charges.
No one at her home answered the door.
Investigators say her two daughters are now with relatives.
Police are now looking to see if there may have been any other previous cases of abuse.
Vivar, herself a mother of a five-month-old baby girl, is trying to wrap her head around all of this.
"I was like, how can people like that exist in this world?" she asks. "She seemed like an innocent lady. I didn't think she was capable of doing that."
