Johnson County mom sentenced to 10 years for toddler’s fentanyl death in 2020
A Johnson County woman whose child died of fentanyl intoxication in November 2020 was sentenced on Tuesday to a little more than 10 years in Kansas prison.
Shelly Christine Vallejo, 31, of Merriam, pleaded guilty in December in Johnson County District Court to one count of felony murder along with reckless child endangerment and drug possession, also felonies. Her total sentence on her convictions will span 123 months, according to the Johnson County District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors say the investigation began with a 911 call that brought police officers to a Merriam residence on Nov. 14, 2020.
Inside the home the officers found a child who was unresponsive. The child, who was born in 2018 and identified in court documents as JLM, died shortly after.
Medical examiners found that fentanyl was in the child’s system at the time of death. The powerful synthetic opioid was determined to be the cause of death, according to prosecutors.
Kansas is one of many states that allows prosecutors to bring a murder charge in cases where an underlying non-violent felony leads to a death.
In April 2021, 28-year-old Jean Pierre Morales, the child’s father, and Vallejo were both charged in Johnson County District Court with murder and child endangerment. In November, Morales pleaded guilty to distributing drugs resulting in a death, a felony.
Morales is scheduled to be sentenced March 8. Prosecutors are seeking a 176-month prison sentence, according to court documents.
This story was originally published February 28, 2023 at 8:42 PM.
