One of five teenage girls charged in the beating of another teen was sentenced today to three years of probation after pleading guilty to misdemeanor battery. Circuit Judge Keith Spoto also sentenced Mercades Nichols to 100 hours of community service and ordered that she pay restitution to victim Victoria Lindsay. ...more

March 6, 2009

On March 30, 2008 six teenage girls confronted 16-year old Victoria Lindsay about trash-talking about them online and in cell phone text messages. The six girls took turns punching and kicking Lindsay while they video tape the beating. Two teenaged boys stood watch outside the Lakeland home to warn the girls inside. Here are the events that followed. ...more

March 5, 2009

Polk County deputies have charged the mother of one of the girls involved in the beating of a teenage girl recorded for YouTube with domestic battery in an unrelated incident. ...more

February 15, 2009

Brittni Hardcastle, a Polk County teen accused in the world-famous videotaped beating of Victoria Lindsay, pleaded guilty today to felony false imprisonment and misdemeanor battery. ...more

January 29, 2009

Five teens accused in the videotaped beating of a Polk County cheerleader were due in court today but attorneys asked the judge to continue the proceeding until Nov. 18. Mercades Nichols, 17, Brittini Hardcastle, 17, April Cooper, 14, Britney Mayes, 17, and Kayla Hassell, 15, were scheduled for pretrial hearings this morning at the Polk County courthouse in Bartow. Their attorneys told Judge Keith Spoto they needed to delay the proceeding because of depositions set for later this month. The judge granted the requests. ...more

October 7, 2008

LAKELAND Mercades Nichols, one of the teens accused in the videotaped beating of Victoria Lindsay, was arrested today on warrants charging her with multiple counts of aggravated stalking, aggravated assault and battery, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said. ...more

August 7, 2008

Attorneys for the five teens accused of beating one of their peers in Lakeland and videotaping with the intent to post online were at a court hearing today in Bartow. ...more

July 8, 2008

LAKELAND - One of the girls charged in the videotaped beating of Victoria Lindsay told an assistant state attorney that she did not realize the scope of the incident until she was released from a juvenile detention center and watched the local news at home. ...more

June 25, 2008

Mercades Nichols will have to wait for trial to tell her version of what happened to Victoria Lindsay in the now infamous Lakeland video beating. ...more

June 4, 2008

TAMPA - Mercades Nichols, one of six teens accused of beating Victoria Lindsay and recording the attack so it could be posted online, was partially successful this morning in seeking permission from a judge to have house arrest and other restrictions lifted. ...more

June 3, 2008