Child-Care Worker Faces Charges After Infant's Arm Dislocated

A Montgomery County child-care worker faces up to five years in prison after a one-year-old girl left in her care suffered a dislocated elbow and sprained wrist.

Nicole Bowman, 24, of Silver Spring, is charged with one misdemeanor count of neglect of a minor. Authorities say additional charges are possible, reports WJLA TV.

The alleged abuse happened at White Oak Wonders, which cares for children of employees at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Silver Spring campus.

According to charging documents filed in Montgomery County District Court, Bowman was monitoring a group of children, including the injured infant, as they walked from the school gymnasium to a classroom. When Bowman gave the infant to her regular teacher, the child was crying, and continued to cry for nearly five hours.

Staffers at White Oak Wonders contacted the child's mother, who works at an FDA building nearby. "Pale and drawn," is how the mother described her one-year-old daughter's face. A trip to a Gaithersburg doctor determined the infant had a dislocated left elbow and sprained left wrist.

Child Protective Services reviewed school surveillance video, which reportedly showed [the child] dropping to the floor, and Bowman holding onto the girl’s arm, dragging her down the hallway.

Police say during questioning, Bowman admitted to hearing the one-year-old's arm "pop or snap" in the hallway. When asked why she didn't call for help, Bowman allegedly told detectives, "she was afraid."

Staff at White Oak Wonders referred all media inquiries to FDA public affairs, which did not return WJLA’s requests for comment.

The mother told the TV station the family doctor had to pop her daughter's elbow back into the socket; a full recovery is expected.

Bowman, who is no longer employed by White Oak Wonders, is scheduled to stand trial in Montgomery County District Court on May 27.