NYC Day Care Owner Sentenced To Prison In Baby's Fentanyl Death: Feds

NEW YORK CITY — A city day care owner has been sentenced to 45 years in prison after she and her husband along with others ran a fentanyl trafficking ring that resulted in the death of a toddler in 2023, prosecutors announced.

Last October, Grei Mendez pled guilty to conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death, possession with intent to distribute narcotics resulting in death and possession with intent to distribute narcotics resulting in serious bodily injury charges, Patch previously reported.

"[Grei Mendez] 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," Acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky for the Southern District of New York said in a statement.

"No punishment can make up for a child lost, but this 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.”

Mendez's husband, Felix Herrera Garcia, 35, was sentenced to 45 years in prison last year, Patch previously reported.

On September 15, 2023, 22-month-old Nicholas Dominici was killed, and four others were poisoned at the Divino Niño daycare in the Bronx due to fentanyl exposure.

Two other co-conspirators pled guilty to charges following the incident.