Ashlee Rochelle Stallings (Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office). The Amazon Fulfillment Center where Stallings worked while her daughter was left in the car (WBTV).
A mother in North Carolina has been sentenced to jail for leaving her 8-year-old daughter in a hot car, leading to the child’s death, while she worked at an Amazon Fulfillment Center.
Mecklenburg Superior Judge William T. Stetzer sentenced Ashlee Rochelle Stallings to 105 days in jail for her involvement in Nhubiy Stallings’ death, as per court records reviewed by Law&Crime. Stallings pleaded guilty to neglect of a minor and misdemeanor child abuse. She received a 45-day sentence for contributing to neglect and 60 days for child abuse, to be served consecutively. With 56 days already served, Stallings faced up to 270 days in jail.
By pleading guilty, Stallings secured a deal with prosecutors, who dropped a felony involuntary manslaughter charge and downgraded a child abuse charge.
According to Law&Crime, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police responded to a call at 6:30 p.m. on June 26, 2024, about an unresponsive child at the Amazon Fulfillment Center on Wilkinson Boulevard.
First responders found the 8-year-old in critical condition inside the vehicle. The child was transported by Charlotte Fire Department’s emergency medical personnel to Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center with life-threatening injuries, as the probable cause affidavit stated.
Nhubiy was pronounced dead shortly after midnight on June 27, 2024.
“Upon further investigation it was determined that the victim was left in a vehicle in hot weather conditions and suffered a medical emergency,” police said in a statement.
The temperature in Charlotte that day reached as high as 99 degrees, making it one of the hottest days of the year, local CBS affiliate WBTV reported.
According to the affidavit, in an interview with police, Stallings admitted that she “left the victim in the car while she was at work.”
From the affidavit:
The vehicle was running with the air on but she believed the victim turned the car off because she was cold. Ashlee Stallings returned to her vehicle approximately an hour and a half after last speaking with the victim via text to find the victim unresponsive in the back seat floorboard. She used a hammer to bust open the back window and found the victim taking shallow breaths and foaming at the mouth. Ashlee Stallings then drove toward the hospital and stopped at a business on Wilkinson Boulevard to call for help. She admitted she knew the temperature was 94 degrees outside and that she should not have left the victim inside the car alone.
The hospital staff that provided treatment for the victim told authorities her cause of death was a herniated brain as a result of hyperthermia.
