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 has pleaded guilty to federal charges brought against her following the incident, prosecutors announced on Tuesday, Oct. 29.

 

“Grei Mendez has just admitted she conspired to maintain and distribute large quantities of dangerously toxic fentanyl in a Bronx Daycare center, a place where parents expected their children would be protected and safe,” said Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.

 

He continued, “Mendez’s reprehensible conduct resulted in the needless and tragic death of a child, and the poisoning of three others. From the beginning, 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. This Office will continue to protect New Yorkers from the grave threat fentanyl presents.”

As reported, Mendez’s husband, Felix Herrera Garcia 36, was recently sentenced to 45 years in prison for trafficking fentanyl out of the now-closed daycare, located on 2707 Morris Avenue, which resulted in Nicholas’s death, and the poisoning of three other infants, after he pleaded guilty earlier this 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 will share details of Mendez’s sentencing, once available.

According to the investigation, on Sept. 15, 2023, at 2:43 p.m. in an apartment in 2707 Morris Avenue, a licensed daycare, and where Acevedo Brito, resided in a bedroom, four children were poisoned through exposure to fentanyl, resulting in Nicholas’ death and acute opioid intoxication requiring hospital treatment for an 8-month-old baby girl, her 2-year-old brother, and another 2-year-old boy. EMS used Narcan to reverse the symptoms of the brother and sister, but Nicholas died. Another infant boy was treated at the hospital, and also survived.

 

As reported, a kilo of fentanyl was found in a closet in the daycare apartment, and six kilos of fentanyl, heroin and other controlled substances were found under a trap door in the floor, under a padded mat where children napped. Kilo presses and other drug paraphernalia were found in the apartment. All four defendants were remanded in custody. City health officials had previously confirmed the daycare center had passed prior inspections before opening, including at least one unannounced, onsite inspection.

One source told Norwood News Mendez’s own young children were not being cared for at the daycare she ran. As reported, prosecutors said that immediately prior to calling 911, Mendez called her husband twice.

 

They said the first phone call went unanswered and the second phone call lasted just over 10 seconds. They said minutes before emergency services arrived, surveillance footage shows her husband, empty-handed, walking swiftly from the building next door into the daycare.

When Mendez appeared in Bronx Criminal Court on Tuesday, April 9, where she faced various State charges relating to the unintentional poisoning of Nicholas, in addition to the separate federal charges, her defense attorney said she was “not a monster.”

 

Speaking to Norwood News after the day’s court proceedings that day, her defense attorney, Javier Solano, said in part of his client, “She’s not some monster; she’s not. This is a person who’s literally cared for these [people?/inaudible]. She really wanted to do a good job as a daycare worker at the daycare business. She’s a loving mother; every day her heart is breaking. If she could probably give up her life for those kids, she would, in a second.” Read our previous story which includes more comments from her lawyer at the time here.

As reported, Mendez has been charged with various federal crimes related to distributing fentanyl, including at the daycare center, allegedly between in or about July 2023 through at least in or about September 2023, along with her husband, Herrera Garcia, and alleged accomplices, Acevedo Brito and Parra Paredes, a/k/a “El Gallo.” Acevedo Brito is presumed innocent unless and until convicted in a court of law.

As reported, in December 2023, at the behest of Nicholas’s heartbroken parents, new laws were introduced by local legislators at a City and State level by City Council Member Pierina Sanchez (C.D. 14) and State Sen. Gustavo Rivera (S.D. 33), to protect children in daycare facilities from opioid exposure. Read more about those laws, not all of which have yet passed, here.

 

At a remembrance service for Nicholas held in October 2023, the little boy’s father, Otoniel Feliz Samboy, said he felt the love and support of his family and each person and was grateful for it. Speaking in Spanish, he added, “I know my son’s passing will not be in vain, not only because those who are guilty will pay, but also because due to his death, many things will change, not only in this City, but in this country and across the world.”

Nicholas Otoniel Feliz Dominici Way was unveiled on the first anniversary of Nicholas’s death on Sept. 15. Read that story here.

 

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 1-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.