A mother whose 4-year-old daughter died after being fed a bottle of Mountain Dew learns her fate

According to Questioner from Cincinnati on Friday, 41-year-old Tamara Banks was sentenced to at least nine years in prison after previously pleading guilty to manslaughter in the 2022 death of her 4-year-old daughter Karmita.

According to a local news station in Cincinnati, the young girl died in January 2022 after Banks and the child’s father, Christopher Hoeb, found her unconscious and called 911. NOV 19. Prosecutors said that although they managed to revive her, she was unresponsive and was taken to a hospital, where she was declared brain dead. A few days later, she was disconnected from life support.

Clermont County Prosecutor Mark Tekulve said, according to FOX 19, that Karmity “suffered most of her short life” from “neglect and abuse from her parents.”

Prosecutors said Banks and Hoeb denied their daughter proper nutrition and medical care, which left the girl suffering from undiagnosed diabetes.

Prosecutors also said Karmity’s parents fed Mountain Dew primarily from a baby bottle, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer, adding that Banks often mixed baby formula with soda even though she was at the age when she should have been weaned.

FOX 19 reported that Karmita’s sodium diet caused her teeth to rot, claiming she had almost none left. The Cincinnati Enquirer also noted that prosecutors said investigators could find no evidence that the young girl had ever visited a dentist.

“This is one of the most tragic cases I have ever encountered,” said Clermont County Assistant Prosecutor Clay Tharp.

Karmity died on January 25, 2022. The coroner’s office determined that the cause of the girl’s death was diabetic ketoacidosis, “a serious complication of diabetes that can be life-threatening,” reports the BBC. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although DKA is most common in type 1 diabetes, it can also occur in people with type 2 diabetes.

Prosecutors explained that Karmity “had diabetes that had gone undiagnosed and untreated for a long time” and said her death could have been prevented.

“This child didn’t have to die,” Tharp told the Cincinnati Enquirer.

Meanwhile, prosecutors also said Karmita’s death was not the only diabetes-related incident in the household, alleging that Banks had older children who were abused in her care. Prosecutors say one of her sons once fell into a coma when he was four years old from complications of undiagnosed diabetes and neglected his medical needs after he recovered.

Meanwhile, Banks told the judge in court: “I thought I was taking care of her.”

According to FOX 19, in July 2023, Banks and Hoeb, 53, were charged with murder, manslaughter and two counts of child endangerment. Charges of murder and child endangerment were later dismissed.

Like Banks, Hoeb pleaded guilty to manslaughter. His sentence is scheduled for June 11.

Although Banks was sentenced to nine years in prison, it may be extended due to her behavior in prison under Art Ohio State Law– reports the Cincinnati Enquirer. It can last up to 13 and a half years.