LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A judge sentenced a mother to at least three years in prison after police said two of her children ingested fentanyl pills when she left them alone in a hotel room and one of them died.

Amber Mitchell, 36, was taken into custody to begin serving her sentence Tuesday.

Las Vegas Metro police arrested Mitchell in 2022 after the death of her 4-year-old son Sequori Cayetano. His 6-year-old brother was also hospitalized, according to the Clark County District Attorney’s office.

Clark County District Court Judge Carli Kierny sentenced Mitchell to a minimum of three years in the Nevada Department of Corrections with a maximum of 12 years. Mitchell pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, child abuse, neglect or endangerment resulting in substantial bodily harm, and child abuse, neglect, or endangerment. All are felonies.

Mitchell initially faced three counts of child abuse with substantial bodily harm and one count of drug possession with intent to sell.

Mitchell left her three children alone in a hotel room at The Orleans Hotel and Casino while she went to gamble, according to a police report. The Orleans is located approximately two miles off the Las Vegas Strip.

A prosecutor said that Mitchell had fentanyl pills she was trying to sell and she had left the pills in the hotel room on the bathroom counter. Detectives said Mitchell did not seek medical attention immediately after she realized her child may have ingested the fentanyl pill.

Cayetano was pronounced dead at the hotel, according to the Clark County coroner’s office.

Mitchell told detectives that she became concerned that he had taken a pill around 1 a.m. after he appeared to act drunk, but she put him back to bed and went back downstairs to play poker, the arrest report stated.

Detectives also said that Mitchell said that she felt guilty and did not deserve children. They said she told them that she was “just a mother, not a doctor,” and “I didn’t know oxy could kill him, I didn’t know about fentanyl.”

Mitchell claimed that her friend told her that the pills were, “oxys,” according to detectives. The arrest report stated that this is a common street term used for pills that are sold as prescription oxycodone. Detectives described the pills as blue with the letter “M” on one side and the number 30 on the other.

The 8 News Now Investigators had learned Nevada’s Division of Child and Family Services received a report alleging neglect in 2021. The agency found the allegations to be unsubstantiated and ultimately determined that the family did not need services and that the family members were safe, according to records.

Several letters of support for Mitchell were submitted to the court before her sentencing.

“Amber will have to live every day of her life with the pain and guilt of knowing that her decisions and actions led to the death of her youngest son,” Andrea Mitchell, her aunt wrote. “None of us will ever forget what happened and we will all mourn the loss of that precious life, but I suspect there is no comparison to the guilt, anguish and loss she feels as the mother who is also the responsible party.”

Her father, Darryl Mitchell, also requested leniency, in part for her two surviving sons, one of them who survived the incident.

“As he comes of age he’ll have questions, they’ll be a variety of facts that he’ll try to piece together for understanding and closure,” Mitchell wrote. “He’ll need his mother present as only she will be to guide him through that difficult time.”

Mitchell is undergoing substance abuse treatment and working to regain custody of her children, according to a letter submitted by a healthcare professional.

Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid. According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, it is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine.

On Wednesday, the Southern Nevada Health District issued a warning about the mixture of stimulants with highly potent synthetic opioids like fentanyl after an increase in fatal overdoses in Clark County and the U.S..

Overdose deaths involving the use of fentanyl with methamphetamine or cocaine between 2020 and 2023 in Clark County increased by 97% rising from 73 deaths to 144 deaths, according to the health district.