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Man breaks into hospital and bottle feeds someone else’s infant

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Infant

Police in Des Moines have arrested a man who reportedly broke into a hospital and began feeding a stranger’s infant in the neonatal intensive care unit.

The incident occurred at the MercyOne Medical Center on December 28th around 11:24 p.m.

Surveillance video shows the suspect carefully slip past a nurse and walk into the room where the patients are kept. He then picked up a bottle and began feeding the infant before slipping out of the room.

Employees reported that the man pretended to be the child’s father.

MercyOne has since released a statement about the incident and the safety of it’s facility:

“MercyOne takes the safety and security of our patients and families very seriously. The incident that took place last month is extremely troubling,” MercyOne said in a statement Tuesday. “We are actively cooperating with the Des Moines Police Department on this ongoing investigation and have conducted an internal investigation into the matter, which prompted several changes to our policies and protocols to expand our security and prevent this from occurring in the future.”

While the suspect’s name has not been released,  in a Facebook post on Monday, investigators say they have identified the person and have taken them into custody.

The man was taken to the Polk County jail on two charges of trespassing and an unrelated probation violation.

Authorities are reporting they have do not have a motive behind the incident and are thankful that the infant was unharmed.