NYC daycare owner charged after infant dies of overdose
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One infant was killed and another three have been hospitalized after fentanyl poisoning that took place at a Bronx daycare.
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Nicholas Feliz Dominici died after a likely fentanyl exposure at the Bronx day care. (Yeissy Dominici/Facebook)
According to police, a Bronx daycare owner was detained on a count of depraved indifference murder as well as narcotics charges on Saturday after a one-year-old child died from probable fentanyl overdose under her watch.
Authorities said three additional children, an eight-month-old girl, and two two-year-old boys, appeared to have been harmed by the deadly synthetic opioid.
Grei Mendez, the proprietor of the daycare, was detained by the New York City Police Department (NYPD). Carlisto Acevedo Brito, one of Mendez's renters, was also charged with depraved indifference murder and narcotics possession in connection with the tragic incident.
Read more: Most US adults have family, personal connection to addiction: Poll
Mendez, 36, and Brito, 41, were detained one day after the children exhibited evidence of having been poisoned by an opiate. Nicholas Dominici, one, died at a hospital near his daycare, according to authorities.
According to accounts, emergency medical professionals resuscitated three additional children at the daycare after using the opiate overdose antidote Narcan.
Mendez and Brito are also charged with assault and endangering a child out of the home-run daycare.
When officers investigated the Divino Nio daycare, they allegedly located a kilo press, which according to Joseph Kenney, the NYPD's chief of detectives, is a commonly used item by drug dealers "when packaging large quantities of drugs."
A wake-up call for those with opioids in their home
Zoila Dominici and Otoniel Feliz, Nicholas’s parents, reported that the baby only started going to the daycare the week before, expressing that he was "so intelligent" and would often repeat anything said to him.
New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams, expressed that the death of Nicholas should serve as a real "wake‑up call for individuals who have opioids or fentanyl in their homes."
"The mere contact is deadly for an adult, and it’s extremely deadly for a child."
Police have not said how they believe the children came into contact with the drugs, but according to AP, the city's medical examiner is attempting to identify the boy's exact cause of death, despite investigators' suspicions that it was caused by fentanyl intoxication.
New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan revealed the children had come close to a substance that could intoxicate, without affirming what it was.
The NYPD police commissioner, Edward Caban, is also quoted as saying, "We don't know exactly what happened to those babies."
This is not the first occurrence of a New York City daycare harboring drugs. In 2013, police unveiled cocaine, oxycodone, and guns at another Bronx daycare, Fun World Childcare.
