New Details Emerge In Montco Teacher Who Brutally Abused 2 Babies: DA

OAKS, PA — New details have emerged in the case of a Montgomery County daycare teacher who police said assaulted and severely injured two babies in her care. Injuries suffered by one of the babies are similar to the fall from a towering height, such as a building, authorities said.

Catalina Baldwin, 37, of Phoenixville, who was employed at Oaks Early Learning Center in Oaks, has been charged with aggravated assault and numerous related counts.

One of the incidents occurred on the morning of July 9.

Baldwin had worked at Oaks Early Learning Center for five years. She was employed as a "lead teacher" with the infant program, one of four age-divided preschool programs run at the center, according to the criminal complaint.

According to their website, the center focuses on exposing infants to language and sounds, as well as giving them tactile experiences with visual aids to help them develop motor skills. Daily activities for infants at the center include finger painting, flash cards, and reading books.

Baldwin, specifically, was responsible for feeding, lesson planning, and other "basic needs," she told police in an interview the day that the infant was hospitalized. She was responsible for three babies in total at the time of the incident: the victim, identified in police documents as "S.F.," and two others.

On the morning of the incident, July 9 Baldwin told police that S.F. had been crying quite a bit, as she had the past several mornings she'd been dropped off, the criminal complaint states. It was just S.F.'s third morning at the daycare, where her parents had begun dropping her off that week.

At around 10:04 a.m., Baldwin texted one of the other teachers that "S.F. is a nightmare," investigators said they discovered days later when they searched her phone.

She deleted that text message 30 minutes before her scheduled interview with detectives two days later, on July 11, the DA's office said.

That morning, Baldwin nonetheless said that S.F. was able to drink all of her bottle, and put her on her belly on the play mat after she drank. Baldwin said that S.F. then vomited, and Baldwin said she picked her up and burped her in her lap, according to the complaint. That's when the baby's head lolled, and Baldwin said she called her supervisor at 10:12 a.m., the DA said, just eight minutes after the "nightmare" text.

First responders rushed S.F. to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in King of Prussia where she was diagnosed with numerous injuries, including a subdural hematoma due to serious head injury, retinal hemorrhages in both eyes, and injuries to the ligaments in her cervical spine.

She was then flown by helicopter to CHOP in Philadelphia, where part of her skull was removed to assist with treatment. She is currently recovering.

It's not clear what Baldwin did to the infant in those minutes between 10:04 a.m. and 10:12 a.m., investigators said.

"The trauma, which was indicated as hyperacute, would have had to occur within a very short time of SF exhibiting symptoms," the criminal complaint states. "And would be comparable to injuries suffered from a fall from a very high height (ex: such as from a building) or a motor vehicle crash."

Another assault occurred months before, around May 29, officials said. This child, a 5-month-old girl, suffered unexplained bleeding in her mouth, which was serious enough that she was taken to CHOP and put on a feeding tube, according to authorities. The child was in the sole care of Baldwin at the time of the mysterious injury, the DA said.

Baldwin was arrested on Thursday, July 31 and booked at Montgomery County Correctional Facility after failing to post $500,000 bail. A bail hearing is set for Friday, and a preliminary hearing will be held on Aug. 12.