Mother of slain girl, 3, pleads not guilty to child abuse charges

By Matt Pordum

Friday, Feb. 11, 2005 | 1:19 a.m.

A mother of two children who were stabbed in Mesquite in January 2003 pleaded not guilty Thursday to 14 counts of child abuse and neglect. Her husband made the same plea.

Tamara Ann Schmidt and her husband, Robert John Schmidt II, who were not married at the time of the stabbings, are scheduled to stand trial on April 4 before District Judge Donald Mosley.

Then-10-year-old Brittney Bergeron and her 3-year-old half-sister, Kristyanna Cowan, were stabbed after being left by themselves at the Casablanca RV Park. Kristyanna was killed and Brittney was left paralyzed from the waist down.

Beau and Monique Maestas have been charged in connection with the attack on the girls that killed

The Schmidts are in custody on $800,000 bail, an amount Tamara Ann Schmidt's attorney, Joseph Caramagno, said is equivalent to "ransom."

Caramagno said he would file a motion for bail reduction or for Tamara Ann to be released on her own recognizance. He also said he was appalled that the Schmidts were being housed at the Clark County Detention Center.

"It's a disgrace she's being held in the same jail as the people who murdered her children," Caramagno said.

Brittney Bergeron, now 12, lives with a foster family. An April custody trial is set in Clark County Family Court.

The girls, who were asleep in a recreational vehicle while their mother and her boyfriend were at the casino, were awakened about 1:30 a.m. on Jan. 22, 2003, by a man who knocked on the RV door and told the 10-year-old that her mother was injured, police said.

When the girl opened the door, the man grabbed her and stabbed her, police said. Investigators believe he then stabbed the 3-year-old.

Authorities allege the children were attacked after the Maestas siblings discovered that the Schmidts sold them bogus methamphetamine.

Beau and Monique Maestas are scheduled to stand trial before Mosley on May 31.