The sentencing for Rachelle Bond, the mother of 2-year-old Bella Bond, whose body was found washed ashore in the Boston Harbor in 2015, has been pushed back until placement in a treatment facility is available.
Bond’s sentencing will be continued on July 12. She will be sentenced to time served followed by probation for her role in her daughter’s death.
In February, Bond pleaded guilty to helping cover up Bella’s murder. She was charged with being an accessory after the fact and also faced larceny charges for the state benefit checks she continued to collect after Bella’s death.
Bond struck a plea deal with Suffolk prosecutors for her testimony against her ex-boyfriend Michael McCarthy, who on Monday was convicted of second-degree murder for the killing of the 2-year-old.
That plea deal included imprisonment until McCarthy’s trial was completed, followed by two years probation.
Bond was previously a heroin addict and also has a history of homelessness. The delay in sentencing allows officials more time to find a bed in a drug treatment facility for Bond, as none are currently available to her.
“It was clear to us that Rachelle Bond loved the little girl, but at the same time she also let that little girl down terribly, but that doesn’t make her a murderer. Michael McCarthy is responsible for her death and the jury spoke,” Suffolk District Attorney Dan Conley said Monday, according to WBZ.
Bond testified for five days against McCarthy. McCarthy is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday. He faces a life term with a chance for parole after 15 years.
