A local sheriff's office wants to know if a suburban Chicago hospital violated state law by not immediately reporting that a woman who claimed to be the mother of a newborn had not given birth. The woman was later charged with strangling the baby's mother and cutting the newborn from her womb.
The Cook County Sheriff"s Office said Monday that it will ask the state's child welfare agency to determine if a suburban Chicago hospital acted properly in the case.
Cara Smith, chief policy officer at the sheriff's office, said if the state's Department of Family Services determines that Advocate Christ Medical Center violated the Abuse and Neglected Children Reporting Act, there would be an investigation.
This combination of booking photos provided by the Chicago Police Department on Thursday, May 16, 2019 shows from left, Pioter Bobak, 40; Clarisa Figueroa, 46; and Desiree Figueroa, 24. Charges against them come three weeks after 19-year-old Marlen Ochoa-Lopez disappeared and a day after her body was discovered in a garbage can in the backyard of Clarissa Figueroa's home in Chicago's Southwest Side. Police said the teenager was strangled and her baby cut from her body. (Chicago Police Department via AP)
Smith's comments come just days after Clarisa Figueroa and her daughter, Desiree Figueroa, were charged with first-degree murder for allegedly strangling 19-year-old Marlen Ochoa-Lopez and cutting her unborn baby out of her last month before Clarisa Figueroa called 911 to report that the baby she had just given birth to was not breathing.
The Chicago Police Department and the state agency said over the weekend that the hospital never alerted them after determining in late April that the bloodied Clarisa Figueroa was not the mother. Police said they did not learn until May 7 of the connection between Figueroa and the Ochoa-Lopez when one of the teen's friends told detectives about communications between the two on Facebook.
The hospital issued a statement Monday saying that it was cooperating with local authorites but would have no comment.
Prosecutors contend that when Figueroa was brought with the baby to the hospital, she had blood on her upper body and face, which a hospital cleaned off and that the 46-year-old Figueroa was examined at the hospital and showed no physical signs of childbirth.
The question for the state agency, Smith said, is if the hospital would have been legally required to alert police or the agency about the woman claiming to be the mother of a gravely ill child.
"We will ask DCFS to advise if this unspeakable tragic set of facts was reportable," she said in a statement.
It was first reported over the weekend that the hospital did not immediately report what had happened on April 23 , the day Figueroa and the baby came to the hospital.
The baby remains hospitalized in grave condition on life support and is not expected to survive.
This version of the story corrects that Cara Smith is chief policy officer at the sheriff's office, not the child welfare agency.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Russia has moved some troops onto an airbase in Niger where a small number of U.S. forces remain, but Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he doesn't see it as a significant issue. Most American troops left that base in the nation's capital, Niamey, a U.S. official said.
The arrival of Russian trainers in the West African country about three weeks ago came in the wake of Niger’s decision to order out all U.S. troops. The order dealt a blow to U.S. military operations in the Sahel, a vast region south of the Sahara desert where groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group operate.
The Pentagon has said the U.S. troops will depart but has not provided a timeline.
When Russian troops arrived last month, it was unclear where they were staying. The Niamey base, Austin said late Thursday, is located at the capital city's Diori Hamani International Airport, and “the Russians are in a separate compound and don’t have access to U.S. forces or access to our equipment.”
He said the U.S. will continue to watch the situation but he doesn't see it as a significant force protection issue.
A U.S. official said the Russian forces are on the other side of the Niamey facility, known as Airbase 101, and that other international forces — such as the Germans and Italians — also reside. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss troop movements. It's unclear how many U.S. troops remain at the Niamey base.
The Russian presence on the base comes as tensions remain high between Washington and Moscow over the ongoing U.S. support for Ukraine's military.
About 1,000 U.S. troops are still in Niger, but the bulk of them moved to what's called Airbase 201 near Agadez, some 920 kilometers (550 miles) away from the capital, not long after mutinous soldiers ousted the country’s democratically elected president last July.
A few months later, the ruling junta asked French forces to leave and turned to the Russian mercenary group Wagner for security assistance.
In October, Washington officially designated the military takeover as a coup, which triggered U.S. laws restricting the military support and aid that it can provide to Niger. Since then, diplomatic efforts to restore ties with Niger have been unsuccessful.
Until recently, Washington considered Niger a key partner and ally in a region swept by coups in recent years, investing millions of dollars in the Agadez base, which has been critical to U.S. counterterrorism operations in the Sahel. The U.S. also has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in training Niger’s military since it began operations there in 2013.
The Pentagon also has said the U.S. will relocate most of the approximately 100 forces it has deployed in neighboring Chad for now. Chad is also considering whether to continue its security agreement with the U.S.
Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, told reporters that the departure from Chad "is a temporary step as part of the ongoing review of our security cooperation, which will resume after Chad’s May 6th presidential election.”
FILE - Supporters of Niger's ruling junta gather for a protest called to fight for the country's freedom and push back against foreign interference, in Niamey, Niger, Aug. 3, 2023. Russia has moved some troops onto an airbase in Niger where a small number of U.S. forces remain after most American troops left the base in Niamey, the nation's capital, a U.S. official said Thursday, May 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Sam Mednick, File)
