Minneapolis mother sentenced in connection to 1-year-old’s fentanyl-related death

A Minneapolis woman convicted in connection to her one-year-old’s death will spend 150 days in the Hennepin County Workhouse and has been placed on probation for five years.

Sandy Vilaihong, 29, was sentenced Friday for a second-degree manslaughter charge filed in the death of her baby last year. A four-year prison sentence was stayed for five years of probation, and she was given three days of credit for the workhouse sentence, which sentencing documents state will begin on Sept. 13.

Vilagong was arrested back in August of 2023 after police received a report of a baby not breathing on February 23, 2023, according to court documents. Medics started CPR but the child died at the scene.

A criminal complaint notes the child’s father was angry and yelled at Vilaihong, who responded, “I know it’s my fault.”

She later told police that she’d bought around 20 pills that she thought were fentanyl the night before, took 15 of them and put the rest in her bra just before bed, according to the complaint. Then, she went to bed with the child next to her and believed the child consumed the pills that were on her.

She added the baby’s father was angry because he’d told her to stop doing drugs.

A medical examiner later confirmed the child died from fentanyl and acetyl fentanyl toxicity, the charging documents state.