BENSALEM, Pa (WPVI) — A registered nurse hired to care for a 3-year-old girl with medical conditions is in jail facing child endangerment charges after the child’s parents say they discovered video showing the nurse harming their daughter.
The Bensalem parents, who asked to remain anonymous, said they had no idea the nurse, identified as 58-year-old Cindy Desser of Jamison, was already facing child abuse charges in Delaware County. They said they hired Desser through Dynamic Home Health Care in the summer to watch their daughter overnight.
The child was born prematurely at 14 ounces with life-threatening conditions affecting her heart and lung. The parents said they believed Desser’s background made her an ideal caregiver. “Twenty years experience in home care, taking care of a kid with the same lung disease as mine. She likes nights,” the child’s mother said. “You don’t find that. It was almost like too good to be true.”
The parents said in October Desser had shown them video of her allegedly assaulting another child.
They’re unsure why she shared it, but it caused them to review their own footage in their daughter’s room. The couple said they found multiple recordings of Desser smacking, slamming and aggressively handling their daughter.
The parents said they also found a bruise on their daughter and took her to the hospital before reporting the incident to police.
One video, they said, showed their daughter pulling out her tracheostomy tube while Desser took her time replacing it as the child struggled to breathe. In the footage, Desser can be heard saying, “You’re the one that did it. I don’t want to hear it.”
“This was the most disturbing one. Thank God my daughter is so strong,” the mother said. She added, “it was just horrific. I just couldn’t believe it. It’s like almost like monsters come out at night.”
The father described the experience as devastating as they try to give the best possible care to their daughter and her twin sister. “It was just a nightmare,” he said. He recalled one incident captured on video: “all our little girl did was sit up and look at her for a minute and she got shoved to the ground. It’s really sick and horrible.”
All of this happened shortly before the family left for a Make-A-Wish trip which they say was difficult to fully enjoy. They said now their daughter is doing well and “defying the odds.”
They hope Desser loses her nursing license and justice is served. “I just hope she gets to sit in a room with other people that did bad things,” the father said. “A snake can shed its skin so many times and it’s still a snake. So, you gotta watch out.”
Bensalem police said they fear there may be additional victims and urged anyone with concerns about Desser to contact investigators.
Dynamic Home Health Care said Desser is no longer employed with the agency. Desser remains behind bars on child endangerment charges in the Bensalem case. Her attorney has not yet responded to a request for comment.
Copyright © 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.