Mother discusses baby snatching

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga.,None — A police affidavit obtained by Channel 2 Action news states Naquell Ballard, 19, admitted attempting to kidnap a newborn from a local hospital Wednesday.

Police said the Clayton County woman said she purchased hospital scrubs at a local Walmart and went into Southern Regional Medical Center pretending to be an employee.

They said she entered a private room and asked a mother if she was ready to return her newborn to the nursery.

After the woman turned over the baby, police said Ballard put the 2-day-old infant into a handbag and attempted to leave the hospital. An alarm went off and Ballard fled the hospital, leaving the baby behind. She was arrested shortly after in her SUV.

Investigators said Ballard told them that she had miscarried and intended to snatch the baby and claim to her boyfriend that the child was their own.

Channel 2's Tom Regan went to the home address of the teen in Morrow to ask for a response from her family. A woman spoke behind a window blind and said they had nothing to say about Ballard's arrest.

Neighbors told Regan it's a sad situation.

"There has to be some sort of psychological problem to have someone want to do that," neighbor William Bouchelle said.

Regan also checked the teen's Twitter account. A recent post states, "I'm putting my childish things away, cause I have a child on the way."

Ballard made her first court appearance before a magistrate judge in Clayton county Thursday afternoon.

The judge denied setting bond and set her next court appearance for Jan. 17.

The baby girl was safely returned to her mother.
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Mother speaks out after woman tried to steal her baby

A mother whose 2-day-old baby was kidnapped from the hospital is recounting the moments right after her child was taken.

Jas'Mere Brown, 19, said it is a moment she is still trying to recover from.

"It was like a shock going through my body. Like, 'What do you mean somebody has my baby?'" she told Channel 2's Tom Jones.

Clayton County police said they arrested Naquelle Ballard, 19, who is facing kidnapping and false imprisonment charges.

Brown said her nightmare started just before 9 a.m. on Wednesday. She was preparing for discharge that day.

Suddenly a woman with scrubs on popped into her room.

"She said she was the nurse's tech and that she was taking my baby for vitals," Brown said.

Brown said she told the woman she had finished breast-feeding the baby, named Chloe, and she could take her.

When Brown's mother arrived and noticed the baby's crib in the hallway, she immediately got a bad feeling in her stomach.

"Why would the nurse take her and leave her crib? Why would she carry her down the hallway without the crib?" Karletta Woods said.

That's when the alarms from the baby LoJack system went off. That system goes off whenever the band on the baby goes through an unauthorized exit.

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"And all of the nurses are bum-rushing me like, 'Where's your baby? Where's your baby?'" Brown said.

Police said Ballard was trying to escape with Chloe in her purse.

Officers said a maintenance man struggled with her as she tried to exit the facility, getting the purse and the baby.

Police said Ballard drove off, but someone was able to copy down her license plate number.

Officers said Ballard told them she was pregnant and miscarried and planned to abduct a baby to present to her boyfriend.

Brown was not happy to hear that.

"Why would you take someone's baby just to keep a man?" she said.
Brown said if Ballard lost a baby, she should know the pain a mother goes through when losing one. And that should have convinced her not to try and abduct hers.

"After all the hard work that I've done and I just went through all of this pain to get her. And I'm loving on her. You don't do that to someone," Brown said.

The young mother said Chloe is doing fine. Brown, on the other hand, said she is having nightmares thinking someone will abduct her baby again.

She was asked if she would let Chloe out of her sight.

"Oh no! She's not going anywhere," Brown said.

Brown would like to meet with maintenance man and the man who jotted down Ballard's license plate number.

She said she wouldn't have her baby back if not for them, so she wants to thank them.

WSBTV