Lake County Mother Receives 30 Years For Child’s Fentanyl Death
A Crown Point woman has been sentenced to 30 years in the Indiana Department of Correction after admitting she neglected her 2-year-old daughter, whose death was caused by fentanyl intoxication in June 2023, according to Lake County court records.
Tiffany Nicole Jenkins, 34, appeared on Dec. 4, 2025, in Lake Superior Court, Criminal Division 1, where the judge accepted her guilty plea to Neglect of a Dependent Resulting in Death, a Level 1 felony, and entered judgment on the conviction. Jenkins had previously signed a stipulated plea agreement providing for a fixed 30-year DOC sentence.
The plea agreement noted that a Level 1 felony carries a sentencing range of 20 to 40 years, with a 30-year advisory term. The court found the negotiated 30-year sentence reasonable after considering the nature of the crime, Jenkins’ character, her prior criminal record, and the mandatory structure of the agreement.
The court awarded Jenkins 638 days of credit for time served from March 6, 2024, through Dec. 3, 2025, and ordered she receive all statutory good-time credit. She was remanded to the custody of the Lake County Sheriff.
According to the stipulated factual basis, officers responded on June 4, 2023, to an unresponsive 2-year-old. The child was discovered in a room described as filthy,with cigarette butts, cords, old food, dishes, garbage, and a smell of feces in the air.
Several uncapped hypodermic needles and a metal spoon with burn marks were located within reach of the child. The probable cause affidavit further documented floors so filthy they stuck to officers’ boots, animal feces, urine-soaked materials, dirty baby bottles piled in a bathroom sink, and garbage scattered to the point of obstructing walkways. A bucket at the bathroom sink held multiple uncapped needles and drug paraphernalia.
A post-mortem toxicology test showed the child was positive for opioids and fentanyl, and the forensic pathologist determined the cause of death to be fentanyl intoxication.
Jenkins admitted she used heroin and marijuana, with her last heroin use occurring the day before the child was found. A Department of Child Services drug screen collected that day tested positive for cocaine, a cocaine metabolite, THC, fentanyl, and a fentanyl analog, above laboratory cutoff values.
She acknowledged the home was a “bad environment” and unsafe for children, and admitted she placed her daughter in a “neglectful surrounding” resulting in the child’s death.
The autopsy documented pulmonary congestion, foamy fluid at the mouth and nose, and toxicology findings showing fentanyl, norfentanyl, naloxone, and related substances. The death was ruled an accident caused by fentanyl intoxication.
