Police: Fugitive nanny gave children medicine to sleep

Police are looking for a Newport Beach nanny who they say gave two children cold medicine to help them nap and then skipped an August court date on child abuse charges.

Elizabeth Norma Sanchez, 41, was a baby-sitter for a Corona del Mar couple, according to Newport Beach police.

While the parents were away, Sanchez would give their kids nighttime cold and flu medicine before nap time to make them sleep better, police spokeswoman Jennifer Manzella said.

Though giving children such medicine isn’t inherently illegal, the amount and frequency administered in this case were enough to prompt the Orange County district attorney’s office to file charges, Manzella said.

Police said they couldn’t disclose how much medication was used or if the children were harmed by it.

When the parents found out about the use of the medicine, they went to the Newport Beach police station on March 7 to report it, Manzella said. They believed it was an ongoing practice by the nanny, Manzella said.

Police said they could not release the children’s ages, and court documents identify them only as a boy and a girl.

Detectives investigated, and the district attorney’s office filed two misdemeanor counts of child abuse against Sanchez.

The nanny, however, didn’t show up for her arraignment last month and is considered a fugitive, according to court records.

Investigators tried unsuccessfully to contact Sanchez, including at her home in Orange, Manzella said.

There is a warrant for Sanchez’s arrest, according to Orange County Sheriff’s Department records.