Charges Against Daycare Worker Dismissed

A Prince William County Circuit Court judge this week dismissed all charges against a Woodbridge woman who was working at a Bristow home daycare when an infant died there earlier this year.  

During the second day of a non-jury trial Tuesday, the judge dismissed all five charges of felony child neglect against Mirna Mendez, 42, court records show. 

Prince William County Police reported on March 8, they found Teagan Sample, who was just three months old, dead at a home on Sapphire Ridge Place. During the course of the investigation, they found 23 children between ages newborn to 4 years old at the residence. Five of them, not including Sample, were under 12 months old. 

Police had also lodged charges against Yolanda Gracelia Larin, of the Manassas area, another employee at the daycare. Her trial is scheduled for Feb. 12. 

Police conducted a separate investigation into the daycare's owners, Rocio del Pilar Chavez Pacheco and Joan Carla Barra, who entered guilty pleas for a number of violations related to the daycare, according to court records. 

According to insidenova.com, Judge Lon Farris was unconvinced Mendez was responsible for conditions at the daycare. 

"There is really no evidence that she was part of the owner's scheme, other than being an employee," Farris said, according to insidenova.com.