Nurse accused of abusing baby boy in Provo NICU
SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A nurse at a Provo hospital was arrested Monday for allegedly abusing a baby boy last month.
Kaycen Caldwell, 29, of Orem, was booked into the Utah County Jail on suspicion of aggravated child abuse, a third-degree felony, court documents show.
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According to investigators, a child abuse pediatrician with Safe and Healthy Families reported on Nov. 4 that she was tapped to look into an abuse report at Utah Valley Hospital.
The doctor reviewed the child’s injuries, which were consistent with squeeze and grab marks made by adult hands.
Police spoke with the grandmother of the infant boy, who said she watched on a camera app as her grandson was crying in the neonatal intensive care unit.
Caldwell went over to the child and was “being really rough” with the boy, the grandmother said, adding that the nurse was pushing the baby down in quick, jerking motions.
The grandmother and another relative saw the nurse turn the camera away from the child for roughly two minutes. In that time, the witnesses saw the crib shaking, the documents state.
When the parents went to the hospital the next day, they saw bruising on the boy’s arms and abdomen. They requested that Caldwell no longer be their son’s primary care provider.
Utah Valley Hospital told ABC4 that they are aware of the accusations against Caldwell and are fully cooperating with investigators.
“We take the safety and welfare of all our patients very seriously,” the statement said.
In an interview with police, Caldwell allegedly said that he was trying to get the child to stop crying that night, the court documents said. He said he massaged the boy’s stomach to help him go to the bathroom.
Other than touching the child’s stomach, Caldwell said that he swaddled the boy and put him back in the crib. He denied moving the live stream camera.
Officers arrested Caldwell on Monday and booked him into jail. Per the online jail roster, he remains in custody.
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