A Bronx daycare provider and her husband will spend decades in prison after fentanyl stored beneath a playroom floor killed a 22-month-old boy and poisoned three other children.
Bronx, NY – A Bronx daycare operator and her husband were sentenced Wednesday to 25 years to life in prison after a jury found them responsible for the fentanyl poisoning death of a 22-month-old child and the drug exposure of three other babies inside a home daycare that prosecutors say doubled as a narcotics operation.
Grei Mendez, 38, and Felix Herrera Garcia, 37, both of Morris Avenue, were sentenced by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Margaret Clancy following their convictions for second-degree murder connected to the death of toddler Nicholas Dominici.
Key Points
• Bronx daycare operator Grei Mendez and husband Felix Herrera Garcia were sentenced to 25 years to life
• Toddler Nicholas Dominici died after fentanyl exposure inside the El Divino Niño daycare
• Prosecutors said the daycare was being used to process large quantities of narcotics
Toddlers poisoned inside daycare apartment
The fatal incident unfolded on September 15, 2023, inside an apartment at 2707 Morris Avenue that housed a licensed daycare called El Divino Niño.
Prosecutors said four children were exposed to fentanyl inside the facility. Nicholas Dominici, 22 months old, died from the poisoning.
Two-year-old Abel Garcia suffered respiratory arrest but survived after emergency treatment at a hospital. His 8-month-old sister Kiara Garcia and another child, 2-year-old Jaziel Lino, also suffered acute opioid intoxication and required hospital treatment.
Emergency medical responders administered Narcan to reverse the symptoms affecting the Garcia siblings.
Drugs hidden beneath playroom floor
Evidence presented at trial revealed that large quantities of fentanyl were being processed inside the daycare apartment, including with kitchen equipment also used to prepare meals for the children.
Investigators discovered one kilogram of fentanyl inside a closet. Another trap door hidden beneath the playroom floor concealed twelve additional kilograms of fentanyl, heroin, and other narcotics, directly below the area where children played and took naps.
Authorities also found kilo presses and drug-packaging materials inside the apartment.
When the children became ill, prosecutors said Mendez called her husband before contacting emergency services.
Surveillance footage later showed Herrera Garcia leaving the building through a back alley carrying weighted plastic bags believed to contain narcotics before police and medical personnel arrived.
Federal drug case already brought lengthy sentence
Mendez was also convicted of first-degree assault, while Herrera Garcia was convicted of second-degree assault during the state trial. A jury returned the verdicts in November.
Both defendants are already serving 45-year federal prison sentences following convictions for narcotics trafficking that resulted in the toddler’s death. The state sentence will run concurrently with the federal term.
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark said the defendants showed “depravity” by hiding fentanyl beneath the daycare floor while infants and toddlers were placed above it.
Tags: bronx, fentanyl, bronx crime
