GRASONVILLE, MD – A Grasonville woman has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after being found guilty of reckless endangerment and criminal neglect of a minor in connection with the 2024 drowning death of a toddler left outside unattended.
On October 1, 2025, Marina Castanon Tomas was sentenced to two five-year sentences, to be served consecutively, following a jury trial in Queen Anne’s County.
The charges stemmed from an incident on October 4, 2024, when emergency services were dispatched to Station Lane in Grasonville. Responders found a juvenile female, born January 11, 2023, face-down in an inflatable pool filled with water. Life-saving efforts were attempted, but the child died several days later.
According to the Queen Anne’s County Office of the Sheriff’s Criminal Investigations Unit, Castanon Tomas had been babysitting the victim and three other children, ages two to four, and left them outside while she went inside to paint walls. She told police she had been inside for approximately 10 to 15 minutes before returning and finding the child unresponsive in the pool.
During a three-day trial, the jury heard testimony from paramedics, sheriff’s deputies, civilian witnesses, and the child’s mother. Castanon Tomas was acquitted of manslaughter but convicted of the lesser charges.
She will serve the two five-year sentences consecutively.
