Amesha Johnson, a 40-year-old North Carolina babysitter, has been arrested following reports she allegedly forced a 1-year-old boy into a scalding bathtub leading to severe burns that the child required skin grafts on his legs.

According to reports, Amesha was arrested and taken into police custody on Thursday, March 20, 2025, and has been charged with one count of felony child abuse in connection with the alleged incident.

The High Point Police Department released a statement on Facebook disclosing that law enforcement officers on March 1 responded to a local children’s hospital call regarding a possible child abuse case. The statement added that the police noticed 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.

Johnson was arrested because she was identified as the babysitter looking after the victim when he suffered the injuries, according to investigators.

Babysitter’s scalding tub burned toddler so severely he required skin grafts, police say — Amesha Johnson

According to Fox8, the child’s mother said she had left her one-year-old son with a friend while she had her hair done. Hours later, she got a call that her baby had been hurt. His calves, feet, and right hand were all severely burned.

The mother stated that by the time she arrived home and saw her son, the child was no longer wailing, describing him as “out of it.” She instantly dialed 911, and emergency medical personnel brought him to the hospital, where he was admitted to the burn unit.

The mother added that when she arrived at the hospital, police were already in her son’s room and began asking her about how he was hurt. The investigation eventually resulted to Johnson’s arrest.

Speaking about her son’s treatments, his mother revealed that he had his first skin graft surgery on March 7, 2025. The operation involved removing skin from the child’s thighs and grafting it onto his foot. Fortunately, the child’s hand burns were just 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 was taken to the Guilford County Jail and issued a $25,000 secured bond.

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