Defendant: Laysha Machado (DOB: 09/25/90)

July 28, 2020 -- Westchester County District Attorney Anthony A. Scarpino, Jr. announced that Laysha Machado of Yonkers was sentenced last week to prison for taking a toddler from its mother at a Yonkers Hospital in February 2019.
 
Machado pleaded guilty in December to one count of Unlawful Imprisonment in the First Degree, a class E felony. She appeared in court July 23, 2020, via video conference before Westchester County Court Judge Susan Cacace who sentenced Machado to one to three years in state prison.

Background
On Feb. 15, 2019, Laysha Machado entered the emergency room of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Yonkers where she took a stroller with another person’s child inside and fled the building. A hospital security guard chased her outside of the hospital and held her until Yonkers Police arrived. She was arrested at the scene.

The 2-year-old child victim was returned immediately to its mother. While the child was exposed to a risk of serious physical injury, the victim was not injured.

The case was handled by Assistant District Attorney Owein Levin of the Special Prosecutions Division.

Laysha Machado

Laysha Machado

 In compliance with the Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 3.6, you are advised that a charge is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

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