The mother of a 22-month-old Brighton toddler who died from a fentanyl overdose in 2022 was sentenced Tuesday to more than 20 years in prison.
On Tuesday, 17th Judicial District Court Judge Kyle Seedorf sentenced 32-year-old Nicole Danielle Casias to 22 years in prison for child abuse resulting in death — one year for every month her daughter had been alive before the overdose — according to court records.
Seedorf also sentenced Casias to two years in prison for drug possession with intent to distribute and ordered her to pay nearly $5,500 in various legal fees, restitution amounts and surcharges, court records show.
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Casias pleaded guilty to both felony charges during a May disposition hearing in a plea deal that dropped additional charges of first-degree murder, racketeering, conspiracy and child abuse from her case, according to court records.
The mother was arrested in January 2022 after her daughter, Aviyana Montoya, was found unresponsive in her crib.
Aviyana’s parents — Alonzo Ray Montoya and Casias — were initially arrested on child abuse charges and later indicted by a grand jury on charges of first-degree murder, child abuse resulting in death, racketeering and conspiracy.
Investigators found that Aviyana ingested 10 times the amount of fentanyl needed to kill an adult and that she was in the same room while her parents used and sold drugs. No one checked on her for nearly 14 hours.
Another Adams County Judge — Don Quick — dismissed the charges of first-degree murder against both parents, finding that there was no evidence the parents “knowingly caused” their daughter’s death, even though they used and sold drugs in another room for hours while their daughter’s condition deteriorated and they failed to notice her loud, pained cries.
Aviyana’s father, Montoya, was convicted of child abuse resulting in death, racketeering and other charges in January and sentenced to 40 years in prison.
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