A 19th Judicial District judge sentenced a Greeley mother Friday morning after her 12-year-old daughter died from fentanyl poisoning.

Judge Vincente Vigil sentenced 32-year-old Mystique Sade Wadena to 17.5 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections on one count of child abuse resulting in death — a class three felony, according to a press release from the 19th Judicial District Attorney’s Office.

“The severity of the defendant’s choices, and the impact this has had on not only her family and other children, but quite frankly the rest of our community, is simply devastating,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wrenn said during the sentencing hearing. “No amount of time in prison will bring this child back, but we do believe this is an appropriate sentence. We hope this sends a message to our community that this type of negligent behavior won’t be tolerated in Weld County.”

On May 1, 2022, Wadena was using and dealing fentanyl from a hotel room in Firestone. She asked to see her three children, who were not in her custody, according to a former press release from the Weld County District Attorney.

Paramedics were then called to the hotel room on May 2. Upon arrival, responders found the 12-year-old daughter unresponsive and transported her to Longs Peak Hospital, and then transferred to Children’s Hospital in Aurora.

After five days, the daughter died from acute fentanyl toxicity, the coroner reported. A second minor child who also ingested the fentanyl survived.

Wadena was initially charged on Sept. 29, 2022.

In a similar case from 2022, a mother and father from Brighton were sentenced for the fentanyl overdose death of their nearly two-year-old daughter.

The daughter was found unresponsive in her crib on Jan. 2, 2022, with what the Brighton County coroner said was 10 times the amount of fentanyl it would take to kill an adult who had no tolerance for the drug. Methamphetamine was also found in the child’s system.

The mother, Nicole Casias, 31, was sentenced to 22 years in prison for the daughter’s death in July 2024 after pleading guilty to child abuse resulting in death and possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.

In April, the child’s father, 33-year-old Alonzo Montoya, was sentenced to 40 years in prison for her death.