Inset: Amesha Johnson (Guilford County Jail). Background: The area where Johnson allegedly left a toddler she was babysitting with severe burns (WGHP).
A 40-year-old babysitter in North Carolina has been arrested after she allegedly forced a 1-year-old boy into a scalding bathtub that left the child with burns so severe he required skin grafts on his legs. Amesha Johnson was taken into custody on Thursday and charged with one count of felony child abuse in connection with the alleged incident, authorities announced.
According to a news release from the High Point Police Department, officers on March 1, 2025, responded to a local children’s hospital regarding a “possible child abuse case.” While there, police said they learned that “a toddler was brought in with severe burns on his hands and feet.”
“During the investigation, a detective with the High Point Police Department’s Special Victims Unit (SVU) spoke to several people and learned the toddler, a one-year-old boy, was injured while taking a bath at a babysitter’s home in High Point,” the release states.
Investigators said they identified Johnson as the babysitter who was watching the victim when he suffered the injuries. She was arrested and transported to the Guilford County Jail.
The child’s mother spoke to High Point Fox affiliate WGHP about the traumatic incident and told the station that her son still has a long road to recovery ahead of him.
“From the calves down, there’s no skin, just red,” she said in an on-camera interview.
The mother said that by the time she got to the house and saw her son, the toddler wasn’t even crying any longer, describing him as being “out of it.” She promptly called 911 and emergency medical services transported him to the hospital where he was admitted into the burn unit.
The mother said that police were already in her son’s room when she got to the hospital and immediately began questioning her as to how her son was injured. The investigation eventually led to Johnson’s arrest.
Speaking about her son’s treatment, the boy’s mother said he had his first skin graft surgery on March 7, 2025. The procedure included taking skin from the child’s thighs and grafting it onto his feet. Fortunately, the burns on the child’s hand were only second-degree and did not require surgery, according to his mother.
“Right now, we just doing wound care at home and therapy twice a week — burn care twice a week,” she added.
Johnson is currently being held in lieu of a secured $25,000 bond.
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