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Las Vegas mom whose daughter drowned in home pool gets probation

A mother whose 2-year-old daughter drowned in a Las Vegas neighbor’s swimming pool was sentenced to 1½ years of probation Tuesday on child neglect charges.

Sandra Scharas, 33, pleaded guilty in January to two counts of the misdemeanor in connection with the death.

Prosecutors have said Francisco Vidal, Scharas’ boyfriend, was supposed to watch their daughter, Khloe, on Oct. 17 while Scharas was at work.

Scharas had asked Vidal to lock the front door behind her because she had no key to their home in the northern valley. Instead, Vidal slept in the garage with the door unlocked, Khloe escaped from the home and drowned in a pool three houses away.

Khloe was not found until Scharas returned home from work that afternoon. Prosecutors have said Khloe was being raised in an unkempt environment.

“We basically wanted her to take responsibility and cooperate,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Mary Kay Holthus said during sentencing. “She’s suffered the ultimate loss. There’s nothing else we can do to her at this moment.”

District Court Judge Douglas Herndon ordered Scharas to stay out of trouble during the probation and pay $178 in fines.

“I’ve lost my entire world,” she told Herndon. “Nobody could fathom a punishment worse than what I’ve been through.”

Last week, a Clark County jury found Vidal guilty of one felony count of child neglect or endangerment with substantial bodily harm and a separate misdemeanor count of child neglect or endangerment.

He faces up to 20 years in prison.

Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039. Find him on Twitter: @randompoker

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