Colorado mom sentenced to 32 years in prison for 5-year-old daughter's meth death

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. (KDVR) -- The mother of a 5-year-old girl who died from a methamphetamine overdose was sentenced to 32 years in prison Friday morning for charges of murder in the second-degree and criminal trespass involving domestic violence.

Stephanie Alvarado, 27, entered a guilty plea on Dec. 2, 2020.

Five-year-old Sophia Larson died Dec. 11, 2019, after drinking from a water bottle laced with meth, according to the Garfield County Coroner's Office.

Prosecutors say Alvarado waited three hours and 54 minutes to take her daughter to the emergency room, even though she saw her 5-year-old hallucinating after drinking from a bottle laced with methamphetamine.

Friday, the judge said there were aggravating circumstances in sentencing Alvarado to 32 years because she continued to use drugs after she knew her daughter had overdosed and because prosecutors said the girl would have likely lived had she received timely medical care.

Prosecutors said under Colorado's Good Samaritan Law, Alvarado would have likely only faced misdemeanor drug possession charges had she called 911 or taken Sophia to the hospital in a timely manner.