Jacksonville woman convicted of lesser charges in toddler's drowning

JACKSONVILLE, ONSLOW COUNTY - A Jacksonville woman was acquitted of involuntary manslaughter in the drowning death of her toddler daughter, but was convicted of lesser charges.

According to the Onslow County Clerk of Court's Office, Amanda Gayle Reed was found guilty on Monday of misdemeanor child abuse and misdemeanor contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile.

She was found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter, however. The judge sentenced Reed to spend 75 days in the Onslow County Jail, a court official said.

The charges were filed after Reed's 20-month-old child, Mercadiez Kohlinda Reed, somehow fell into her family's above-ground pool on May 11, 2013, according to police. The incident happened on Forest Grove Avenue in Jacksonville.

Mercadiez was pronounced dead at Onslow Memorial Hospital, investigators said.

Reed was arrested on June 26, 2013. Because she has other children, the Department of Social Services was involved in the case, investigators said.

Reed, who used to go by the last name, Stump, was previously sentenced to three years of probation for the death of 19-month-old Sadie Gates, a child she was babysitting. According to investigators, Reed admitted to smoking marijuana before Sadie's parents dropped the toddler off at Reed's home in October 2010.

The child then wandered out of Reed's home and ended up in a drainage ditch filled with running water, where she drowned, investigators said. Reed was charged with manslaughter in Sadie's death and pleaded no contest.