Owner of NYC daycare where toddler died had pulled child out due to fentanyl concerns

The owner of a New York City daycare center where a toddler died earlier this month of a likely opioid overdose had pulled her own child out of the facility due to fentanyl concerns.

Authorities arrested 36-year-old Grei Mendez, the owner of Divino Nino Daycare, after the death of 1-year-old Nicholas Dominici and the hospitalization of three more young children.

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Mendez’s husband, Felix Herrera Garcia, was taken into custody Thursday upon returning to the United States following an initial arrest in Mexico earlier in the week, according to a report.

Herrera Garcia purportedly appeared in a California court and is set to be taken to New York to face federal charges along with his wife and at least two others in connection to Dominici’s death and the poisoning of the three other children, the report noted.

“As opioid use skyrockets, illegal drugs are often contaminated with fentanyl or other dangerous substances, and overdoses have hit historic levels, including in New York City,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Thursday.

“We cannot allow this crisis to continue taking lives and destroying communities.”

The day authorities discovered the children who had suffered from the opioid exposure, Herrera was captured on footage running out of the daycare with shopping bags, according to a report.

“Felix Herrera was arrested for his alleged role in running a fentanyl mill hidden inside a Bronx daycare, which caused the tragic death of a one-year-old boy and seriously injured three other children,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said after Herrera was tracked to Mexico.

“Herrera’s arrest on the other side of the nation reflects our tireless pursuit of Herrera, who fled the daycare even as the children he abandoned inside were suffering from his poisonous trade.”

Herrera was not extradited from Mexico but was, instead, expelled from the nation.

New evidence also shows that Mendez had removed the pair’s 2-year-old daughter from the facility in 2022 after she purportedly became concerned with signs of fentanyl exposure.

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Despite concerns for her own child, Mendez kept the daycare open, the report noted.

Both Mendez faces 10 charges, including criminal possession of a narcotic, endangering the welfare of a child, and murder, while Herrera Garcia is facing life in prison on charges of conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death in connection with the poisoning of the daycare children.