A licensed practical nurse was ordered jailed on $50,000 bail Friday for allegedly abusing a disabled 5-year-old who was in her care, inflicting what police termed "agony that was the equivalent of torture."
Diane Camille Laurier, 49, of Lynnwood is being held for investigation of second-degree assault of a child, including hitting the girl and such things as rubbing a dirty diaper in her face.
Laurier works for a care service and was assigned to work three shifts a week helping with the girl’s 24-hour care. The child had severe brain damage at birth, according to a Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office statement filed with Everett District Court.
Police have a video from a security camera depicting some of the abuse, according to the document.
Laurier made a brief appearance before Everett District Court Judge Thomas Kelly, where defense lawyer Michael Magee asked for her release. Deputy prosecutor Craig Bray asked for $250,000 bail, saying she was both a flight risk and a danger to the community.
The child’s grandmother noticed that various items were missing from the residence, and she had a hidden surveillance system installed over the crib where the girl, who cannot speak, was confined, according to the document.
On Oct. 16, soon after Laurier’s shift, the grandmother noticed that the girl was congested, very agitated and her heart rate was up. She was shaking and would not calm down. The grandmother called Laurier’s employer, asking that she not be assigned to work at the residence again, the document says.
She later viewed videotape, which depicted Laurier physically abusing the girl throughout the three shifts that the nurse worked since the surveillance system had been installed, according to the document.
"What appalled (the grandmother) was the fact that (Laurier) had been working there for the past year, and the system had only been in place for the last three shifts," the document says.
According to the document, the abuse included things such as the constant pulling of the girl’s hair, hitting her about the face and head with her hand, putting blankets and towels over her head, moving her roughly around in her crib, roughly suctioning out her mouth with a tube, roughly wiping her face with towels and rubbing her face with a dirty diaper.
Laurier was arrested Wednesday and at first denied the allegations. When confronted with the tape, she admitted to the abuse and "stated she did so out of frustration," the document says.
She told police the abuse had been occurring for the last couple of months, and it had gotten worse over the last month, the document says, and adds: "Diane stated that she knew what she did was wrong and described the abuse inflicted upon (the girl) as ‘horrible.’ "
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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