COURTS
Parents plead to felonies in drug overdose death of infant
Couple's two other children also exposed to meth and fentanyl
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The parents of an sa国际传媒官网网页入口 infant found dead from a drug overdose in 2024 each pleaded guilty Monday to a pair of felony charges, court records show.
The Office of the Medical Investigator found that the 1-year-old girl died from acute fentanyl and methamphetamine toxicity, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.
The couple鈥檚 two other children also tested positive for the drugs, the complaint said.
Monique Sanchez, 35, and her boyfriend, Thomas Soto, 37, each pleaded guilty to abandonment of a child resulting in death and child abuse. Each faces up to 15 years in prison, according to their plea agreements. No sentencing hearing has been scheduled.
"The death of this child is a heartbreaking and infuriating reminder that methamphetamine and fentanyl continue to claim the lives of our most vulnerable," District Attorney Sam Bregman said in a statement.
sa国际传媒官网网页入口 police were dispatched Feb. 12, 2024, to the couple's apartment in the 4200 block of Bryn Mawr NE, near Montgomery and Interstate 25. The initial report said the child was "reportedly sleeping on a couch and possibly suffocated in couch cushions," the complaint said.
Sanchez told police that Soto was the father of the girl, identified as AS, and the two other exposed children, the complaint said. She also said that 鈥渁 homeless friend鈥� came to the apartment the night before and slept on the floor of the couple鈥檚 bedroom, it said.
Sanchez also told police that the girl and another child were playing in a bedroom when the girl "became fussy" and a family friend put the child on the couch at about 2 a.m., the complaint said.
At about 1:30 p.m., Soto screamed "wake up, something bad happened," it said. Soto "began apologizing for not being a better dad" and left the apartment, the complaint said. Sanchez told police that she had not checked on the girl for 11 hours, it said.
Investigators also found drug residue on a jacket that had been left on the couch where the child had been sleeping.
鈥淣o child should die from drug exposure, and parents and caregivers have a responsibility to keep children safe,鈥� Bregman said. 鈥淧rosecutors in our Special Victims Unit are seeing this horrific crime far too often."
In an unrelated case, a trial is scheduled Aug. 17 for an sa国际传媒官网网页入口 woman facing criminal charges in the death of her 4-month-old boy, who prosecutors said was born addicted to fentanyl.
Prosecutors allege that Gabriella Muniz, 28, contributed to the death of her infant child by using fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine found in the home where the child was found dead.
Muniz's co-defendant, Victor Gonzales, 47, who lived with Muniz, pleaded no contest on Thursday to reckless child abuse resulting in death and faces up to 22 years in prison. Muniz, who has multiple felony convictions dating to 2018, entered his plea as a habitual offender.
Olivier Uyttebrouck covers the court system. You can reach him at olivier@abqjournal.com.
