BOLIVAR, Mo. -- A judge convicted a woman from the Pleasant Hope area for two counts of child endangerment after law officers found children living in her filthy home. The convictions against Virginia Gambriel are misdemeanors instead of the felonies with which she was charged.

The Polk County prosecuting attorney charged Gambriel last year after a raid on her property near Pleasant Hope. The Humane Society of Missouri seized 319 animals on July 24, 2008. The children, who are her grandchildren, were ages 12 and 14 at the time.

Gambriel waived her right to a trial by jury. Senior Judge William Roberts, a retired circuit judge, heard testimony on the condition of Gambriel’s home and the children at a trial on Sept. 25. An investigator for the Humane Society testified that the floors of the mobile home were 6 to 10 inches thick with animal feces and trash. A friend of Gambriel testified she regularly saw the children, and they were healthy and clean.

Roberts reduced the felonies to misdemeanors and issued his notice of conviction last Friday. He said he doesn’t think Gambriel knew she was putting the children in so much danger with their living conditions. Instead of prison sentences up to seven years for each count, she now faces county jail terms up to 1 year and/or fines up to $1,000 for each count. Roberts scheduled sentencing for Nov. 19.

Gambriel still faces 1 charge of animal neglect, 11 charges of animal abuse, and 1 charge of improperly disposing of a dead animal.

When Gambriel was charged with child endangerment, her two adult daughters and a son-in-law were also charged with the same felonies. Kevin Guthrie is set for a trial next July 19; Janet Hall is set for a trial on May 17; and Julia Guthrie is set for a trial next March 29 in Webster County, after she requested her case be moved out of Polk County.