Former NICU nurse pleads no contest to child abuse charges involving 9 babies

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT/Gray News) - A former nurse in the neonatal intensive care unit at a Virginia hospital is facing prison time after she pleaded no contest to child abuse charges dating back several years.

Erin Strotman, a former NICU nurse at Henrico Doctors’ Hospital, pleaded no contest Thursday to nine charges of felony child abuse. The 27-year-old was initially facing 20 charges for her handling of nine babies between 2022 and 2024.

The plea agreement was presented to Judge Richard S. Wallerstein Jr. for a maximum sentence of three years for Strotman, and he accepted it. Part of the agreement requires Strotman to never practice nursing or any related healthcare job again, nor work with minors or vulnerable adults.

The prosecution presented video evidence in court Thursday of Strotman roughly handling one of the babies involved in the case, placing her full body weight on the infant who was crying in distress. Strotman’s defense attorneys argued the video did not show any signs of malice or malicious intent and said Strotman loved her job as a nurse.

Strotman will stay on house arrest and maintain the terms set in her bond agreement until her sentencing date of June 5. At that time the victims’ families will be allowed to speak.

Erin Strotman court records, including signed plea agreement

“I have always made it a priority to ensure that we would be able to ask the Court to hold Erin Strotman accountable for all of the families being impacted,” Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor said. “We made a promise to these families that we would continue to work on this matter, and I intended for us to keep that promise.”

The case began in late November and December of 2024 when staff at Henrico Doctors’ discovered three pre-term babies had unexplainable bone fractures. At the time, the hospital said the incident was similar to one involving four babies in the summer of 2023.

The following is an abridged timeline of the case:

January 2025

Strotman was charged in a November 2024 incident involving one baby and was fired from the hospital. In total, seven cases of babies with unexplained injuries were being investigated.

March 2025

Strotman faced more charges that included two new babies she allegedly harmed, meaning she was charged with abusing three of the seven injured children.

An eighth baby was also added to the investigation, according to Taylor.

April 2025

Six new indictments were brought against Strotman that involved three babies. Two of the cases were from 2024 while the third dated back to 2022.

Taylor said they learned of a ninth baby after the family came forward, and an investigation showed injuries consistent with other babies hurt that had been linked to Strotman.

May 2025

Strotman’s nursing license was suspended. She was also arraigned on eight new charges related to the abuse of four babies in 2023, bringing her total charges to 20, involving nine babies from 2022 to 2024.

January 2026

Strotman spent nearly a year on house arrest, awaiting trial, before a plea agreement was reached in the case. Her trial was initially scheduled for February 2026.