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Mom Of Girl In Video Beating Charged With Battery

Associated Press file photo (2008)

Mercades Nichols, left, and her mother, Christina Garcia, right, committed battery in the same Lakeland house, deputies say.

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TBO Staff

Published: February 15, 2009

Updated: 02/15/2009 09:09 pm

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Christina Garcia

Last month, Mercades Nichols pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor battery charge in connection to the videotaped beating of a teen girl.

The incident, which took place March 30 in the Lakeland home Nichols shares with her grandmother, was intended for posting on the Internet, investigators say.

The house at Calendar Court was the scene of two more beatings on Saturday, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said. This time, it was Nichols who was attacked — by her visiting mother, deputies say.

Christina Garcia, 35, was arrested Sunday morning on two counts of domestic battery after getting into two fights with Nichols, 18, sheriff's spokeswoman Carrie Eleazer said. Garcia called the sheriff's office to say it was Nichols who attacked her, Eleazer said.

Deputies went to the house on Sunday, interviewed Nichols and other witnesses and found out it was Garcia who was the aggressor, Eleazer said.

Deputies say Garcia got into arguments about an hour apart on Saturday with Nichols.

In the first fight about 4 p.m., Garcia grabbed her daughter's hair, kicked her several times and spat on her, the sheriff's office said. Mary Nichols, Garcia's mother, broke up that fight.

Another fight erupted about 5 p.m., and Mary Nichols and two other people at the house broke up the fight, the sheriff's office said.

Garcia then asked her mother to drive her home to Polk City but first to remove all phones from the house so Mercades Nichols could not call police, investigators said.

Nichols didn't know her mother called the sheriff's office until deputies showed up at her Lakeland home, Eleazer said. Nichols told deputies she had not called the sheriff's office to report the incident because Garcia "was her mother and was dealing with numerous stressors," Eleazer said.

Nichols was among seven Polk County teenagers accused of taking part in beating Victoria Lindsay, 16 at the time, and recording the attack on video. Deputies say the video was intended to be posted on YouTube and MySpace in retaliation for Lindsay trash-talking some of the girls online.

The video received nationwide notoriety.

Nichols' sentencing on the misdemeanor battery charge is set for March 5.

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