Photo by Síle Moloney
Grei Mendez, 37, the operator of El Divino Niño Daycare Center in Kingsbridge Heights where one-year-old Nicholas Feliz Dominici died on Sept. 15, 2023 from fentanyl poisoning, was sentenced to 45 years in prison for trafficking fentanyl out of the daycare center. The undercover drug operation resulted in the unintentional death of Nicholas, and the poisoning of three other infants who survived being unintentionally poisoned.
As reported, Mendez had pleaded guilty on Oct. 29, 2024 in relation to her part in the drug racket before U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff, who imposed the sentence.
Matthew Podolsky, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the news on Monday, March 3, saying, “Grei Mendez operated a daycare out of a basement apartment in the Bronx in which large quantities of deadly fentanyl were mixed, packaged, and stored.”
Photo by Síle Moloney
He added, “She put babies as young as eight months old directly in harm’s way as they slept, played, and ate in a room where over 11 kilograms of fentanyl was hidden underneath their feet, leading to the death of one child and the poisoning of others. No punishment can make up for a child lost, but today’s sentence sends the message that this Office and our law enforcement partners will work tirelessly to bring to justice anyone who uses children as a shield in the drug trade.”
According to court records, and as reported, from at least in or about June 2022 through September 2023, Mendez and others conspired to distribute narcotics out of Divino Niño Daycare, located at 2707 Morris Avenue in Kingsbridge Heights. There, she and her co-conspirators maintained more than 11 kilograms of fentanyl and heroin in secret compartments, or traps, located underneath the floor tiles in the playroom of the daycare.
Image courtesy of U.S. Attorneys for the Southern District of New York
As a consequence of the drug operation, on Sept. 15, 2023, four children at the daycare, including Nicholas, all of whom were under three years of age, experienced the effects of poisoning from exposure to fentanyl. Three of the children were hospitalized, including Nicholas, and were given Narcan, life-saving medication, in efforts to reverse the effects of the overdose, but tragically, Nicholas, just 22 months old at the time, died.
In addition to the prison term, Mendez, of The Bronx, was sentenced to five years of supervised release.
Photo by David Greene
As reported, Mendez’s husband, Felix Herrera Garcia, 36, was also recently sentenced to 45 years in prison for also trafficking fentanyl out of the now-closed daycare, after he also pleaded guilty last year.
In addition to Herrera Garcia and Mendez, Renny Antonio Parra Paredes, 39, and Carlisto Acevedo Brito, 42, a cousin of Herrera Garica, were also arrested in connection with the incident, and face various State and federal charges, some including murder and drug trafficking. Parra Paredes has also pleaded guilty to the federal charges and awaits sentencing in federal court. We have asked the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York for an update on the status of the case involving Acevedo Brito and will share any updates we receive.
Still courtesy of the NYPD
Nicholas Otoniel Feliz Dominici Way was unveiled on the first anniversary of Nicholas’s death on Sept. 15, in his memory. Read that story here.
In relation to Mendez’s case, Podolsky praised what he described as the outstanding investigative work of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”), the NYPD, the Southern District of New York digital forensic unit, the complex analytical and social media enhancement team at the New York/New Jersey High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (“OCDETF”) New York Strike Force, and the U.S. Marshals Service (“USMS”).
Video by Síle Moloney
He also thanked the various other law enforcement and other authorities from across the country and internationally.
The case was prosecuted by the narcotics unit of the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Southern District of New York. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Maggie Lynaugh and Brandon C. Thompson, as well as Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Karl P. Miller of the Office of the Bronx County District Attorney’s Office (Homicide Bureau) led the prosecution.
Photo by Síle Moloney
Click here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here for more background on the case.
As reported, a Bronx man was sentenced on Oct. 16 in a separate case to 13 years in prison for operating a separate drug mill in the Morris Heights section of The Bronx that resulted in the death of another one-year-old infant from fentanyl poisonng in December 2018.
NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) provides training and regularly updated information on how to obtain and administer naloxone (Narcan). Click here for more information.
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to [email protected] or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.