Nicole Casias sentenced to 24 years for fentanyl-related death of child

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The mother of a 22-month-old Brighton toddler who died of a fentanyl overdose in 2022 was sentenced Tuesday to more than 20 years in prison.

On Tuesday, 17th Judicial District Judge Kyle Seedorf sentenced Nicole Danielle Casias, 32, to 22 years in prison for child abuse resulting in death — one year for every month her daughter was 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.

Casias pleaded guilty to both felony charges during a May sentencing 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 unconscious 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 had ingested 10 times the amount of fentanyl needed to kill an adult and that she was in the same room as her parents were using and selling drugs. No one examined her for nearly 14 hours.

Another Adams County judge — Don Quick — dismissed first-degree murder charges against both parents, concluding there was no evidence the parents “knowingly caused” their daughter’s death, even though they had been using and selling drugs in another room for hours as their daughter’s condition worsened and they failed to notice her loud, pained screams.

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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