COMPTON (CBSLA) — A Rancho Palos Verdes woman whose 2-year-old daughter died in 2019 after being left in a car overnight with the heater running was sentenced Wednesday to 14 years and eight months in state prison.
Lacey Ana Mazzarella, 35, pleaded no contest Oct. 20 to one count each of voluntary manslaughter, mayhem and child abuse resulting in death, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was initially called to the 22400 block of South Vermont Avenue in an unincorporated area near Torrance on Sept. 23, 2019 for reports of an unresponsive child. The toddler, June Love Agosto, was pronounced dead at an area hospital.
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Mazzarella told deputies at the time that she left her toddler in a car in a Torrance driveway at 11:30 p.m. Sept. 22 in her car seat covered by a blanket with the heater on and the windows rolled up. The next morning, at about 5 a.m., Mazzarella said she found her child covered in vomit and unresponsive.
Mazzarella was arrested on Oct. 2, 2019 and charged two days later with one count each of murder and child neglect resulting in death. She has remained behind bars since her arrest.
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