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Henderson mom pleads guilty in child’s death

By Matt Pordum (contact)

Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2005 | 9:42 a.m.

A 23-year-old Henderson mother pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree murder for the death of her 18-month-old daughter and multiple counts of child abuse and neglect in connection to her four other children.

As part of Sophia Mendoza's plea prosecutors have agreed not to oppose a move to make all of her charges run concurrently when she is sentenced by District Judge Donald Mosley.

Mosley will either sentence Mendoza to 10 to 25 years or 10 years to life in prison for second-degree murder in the death of Sierra Tisdale.

Mendoza faces the possibility of anything from probation to 8 to 20 years in prison for one count of felony child abuse and neglect and as much as a year in jail for each of three gross misdemeanor charges.

An autopsy found that her toddler, Sierra Tisdale, died of malnutrition and dehydration about three days before her body was discovered in the back bedroom of the house Mendoza shared with Demone Tisdale, her live-in boyfriend and the father of the children.

Mendoza and Tisdale was arrested Oct. 1, 2002, when the children's grandmother visited the home and found Sierra Tisdale dead in a bedroom and Jacob vomiting and having difficulty breathing.

Prosecutors said part of Sierra's body had been badly bitten by cockroaches and the children's health had been declining over a period of weeks or months. The couple's other three children -- a 3-year-old, a 2-year-old and a 5-month-old -- also showed signs of neglect, police said.

Tisdale previously pleaded guilty to the same charges as Mendoza and was sentenced to 10 years to life in prison.

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