Eagle Mountain parents sentenced to probation for exposing children to drugs

EAGLE MOUNTAIN — An Eagle Mountain couple have been sentenced to three years of probation for exposing their children to drugs.

Raona Dorothy Mora, 33, and Jose Miguel Mora Rodriguez, 34, were each charged on Oct. 15, 2024, with child endangerment, a third-degree felony.

Both pleaded guilty last month to the charges in 4th District Court. The two were sentenced on Dec. 11 to a term of zero to five years in prison, but their prison terms were suspended in favor of three years of probation.

Mora was given credit for the 252 days she has previously served, and Rodriguez was given credit for the one day he had served. The court stipulated both parents must complete a cognitive behavioral related course, participate in a parenting class and obtain a substance abuse evaluation and treatment.

The charges stemmed from an investigation after their 4-month-old baby died at Primary Children's Hospital in September 2024, which led to the mother being charged with child abuse homicide, a first-degree felony.

While searching the Rodriguez residence after the infant's death, police noted marijuana paraphernalia was in plain view, including marijuana "wax" located in the room where the couple's older son sleeps in the attached bathroom.

Police tested the 8-year-old boy and his 12-year-old sister for the possible presence of drugs in their systems. The girl's results came back as clean. The boy, however, had positive results for THC metabolite, meaning he had been exposed to or had sufficient contact with marijuana that it was prevalent in his body, according to police.

In the child abuse homicide case, Mora originally told police that she had fallen asleep while holding the infant and then fell off the bed and landed on top of him.

However, doctors told investigators that there was "no possibility that the extensive and life-ending injuries sustained by the 4-month-old baby boy could have resulted from the reported circumstances from Mrs. Raona Mora," court documents state.

In November, Mora pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of negligent homicide, a class A misdemeanor.

"The state indicates that after consulting with multiple experts and based upon state laws, they can only charge the defendant with a class A misdemeanor instead of the original charge of an aggravated homicide," a court sentencing document states.

Mora was sentenced in that case to a year in jail, but that jail term was also suspended. The court ordered her to serve two years of probation, during which she must obtain a substance abuse evaluation, comply with recommended treatment and complete a court-ordered parenting class.

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