Caption,
Nicholas Dominici had only been in daycare for a week.
Article informationAuthor, Max MatzaRole, BBC News
September 20, 2023
The New York police said they had found a kilogram of fentanyl under a mattress at a daycare where one child died and three others had to be taken to the hospital.
Nicholas Dominici, who was turning two in November, had been attending daycare for just a week when he died of what is believed to be a drug overdose on Friday.
Three more children were admitted to the hospital after being exposed to fentanyl at a Bronx daycare.
The police also found other drugs hidden under a trapdoor in a daycare center.
Drug trafficking conspiracy and murder charges were filed against two individuals.
Police believe the children, aged between eight months and two years, inhaled the dangerous narcotic while they were at daycare.
Caption,
At the daycare, authorities found a kilo of fentanyl.
Three of the children were given Narcan, an emergency medication used to reverse opioid overdoses.
A raid on the daycare found a kilo of fentanyl that had been discovered “under a mat where the children had been sleeping shortly before,” NYPD Chief Detective Joseph Kenny said Monday.
Investigators also claim to have discovered three presses that were used to package kilos of drugs.
The owner of the Divino Niño daycare in the Bronx, Grei Mendez, 36, and her tenant, Carlitos Acevedo Brito, 41, face federal charges of possession of narcotics “with the intent to distribute resulting in death and conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death,” according to federal prosecutors.
“We believe the defendants poisoned four babies and killed one because they were leading a drug operation from a daycare,” said Manhattan prosecutor Damien Williams.
“A daycare, a place where children should be safe, not surrounded by a drug that can kill them in an instant.”
image copyrightGetty Images
Caption,
Grei Méndez’s lawyer says his client did not know the drugs were in the daycare.
Police say that with the drugs recovered at the daycare, 500,000 people could have been killed.
Fentanyl, a synthetic painkiller 50 times more powerful than heroin, is blamed for an increase in drug deaths in the US.
Surveillance footage and phone records show that Mendez called her husband after the children became sick, before contacting 911. Her husband arrived and removed several full grocery bags from the daycare, officers said.
Authorities are still searching for her husband, whom they identify in court documents as a co-conspirator.
An attorney for Mendez says his client denies the charges and that she was not aware the drugs were at the daycare.
“The only crime he committed was renting the room to someone who had a kilo,” said his lawyer Andrés Aranda, according to ABC News.
“There is no evidence that a complaint would have done anything other than properly care for these children.”
It is unclear if Brito, who is a cousin of Méndez’s husband, has an attorney.
Authorities consider the two suspects to be a flight risk and were denied bail. If found guilty, they could face life in prison.
image copyrightNYPD
Caption,
Drugs found in daycare.
surprise raid
City health inspectors conducted a surprise inspection of the daycare center on Sept. 6, but did not identify any violations, said city health commissioner Ashwin Vasan.
“I’m very sorry but one of the things that daycare inspectors are not trained to do is look for fentanyl. Maybe they will have to do it,” he said in a press conference.
At the same press conference, Mayor Eric Adams called for a “complete national assault” against the substance, and alluded to its potency.
“A tenth of a fingernail can kill an adult. Imagine what it can do to a child,” she said while holding up a photo showing a lethal dose compared to a penny.
Virtually every corner of the U.S., from Hawaii to Rhode Island, has seen the impact of fentanyl, according to new research.
In 2010, fewer than 40,000 people died from overdoses in the country, and less than 10% of those deaths were linked to fentanyl.
By 2021, more than 100,000 people died annually from drug overdoses, and it is estimated that 66% of them were linked to fentanyl.
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2023-09-20 07:00:00
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