Bronx day care owner pleads guilty after fentanyl death
Editor's Note: The above video originally aired on Oct. 16, 2024
BRONX, N.Y. (PIX11) – The owner of a Bronx day care center pleaded guilty in the death of a baby exposed to fentanyl, according to U.S. Attorney Damian Williams.
Grei Mendez on Tuesday admitted to a drug distribution scheme at the day care center, where prosecutors say Mendez and her husband were storing over 10 kilograms of narcotics, including fentanyl.
One baby, 1-year-old Nicholas Dominici, died after being exposed to the fentanyl and three others were hospitalized, prosecutors said. Mendez was hit with a slew of charges, including murder, manslaughter, assault, and criminal possession of a controlled substance.
Mendez is due to be sentenced March 3. She faces a mandatory minimum of 20 years in prison and the potential for up to life behind bars.
She’s the third person to plead guilty in the case that shook New York. Earlier this month, her husband, Felix Herrera-Garcia, was sentenced to 45 years in prison for his role in the drug scheme.
“This case has shown the senseless collateral damage caused by the fentanyl epidemic, and should remind us all that the demand for illegal narcotics so often puts innocent bystanders at risk while drug traffickers ruthlessly pursue profits,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams.
Mendez is accused of hiding drugs in secret compartments and under the playroom floor at the day care she ran, prosecutors contend. When the kids went unconscious in September of 2023, Mendez called her husband multiple times before calling 911, prosecutors said. He then came to the day care center and removed some items, running away through bushes.
The two schemed and lied to law enforcement and her husband, Herrera-Garcia, fled before being apprehended in Mexico, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Mendez, 37, cried briefly as she explained that she agreed with her husband and another person to possess and distribute drugs, then in September 2023 helped the pair package and store the narcotics in the Bronx apartment where she ran Divino Niño day care.
“This will haunt me for as long as I live,” said Mendez, who has four children of her own.
Mendez said her husband encouraged her to open the day care center, and she believed he was doing it to help her. But she said as soon as the doors opened, she realized that it was actually a “perfect way to conceal his drug business.”
This story comprises reporting from the Associated Press.