According to a court document, a taped box containing several thousand dollars’ worth of fentanyl was found inside the daycare facility in New York City where a 1-year-old infant overdosed on opioids last week and died.
However, the proprietor of the daycare center insisted she was unaware of the existence of the extremely potent narcotic that sickened three other young children, including an 8-month-old girl who tested positive for using fentanyl, and caused an 8-month-old daughter to become ill.
On Sunday, Grei Mendez, 36, who ran the Divino Nio daycare out of an apartment in the Bronx, entered a not-guilty plea to the murder allegation against Nicholas Dominici. Carlisto Acevedo Brito, 41, a guy who rented a room in the Bronx residence, is awaiting arraignment on the same set of allegations.
Inside the closet of a corridor leading to the flat, police allegedly found about one kilogram of fentanyl and a press mechanism used to mix it with other drugs.
According to a criminal complaint, Brito was using the adjacent room, which included a second press. Mendez’s attorney, Andres Aranda, claimed that his client rented a room to Brito, her husband’s cousin, for $200 a month while living above the daycare facility.
People apparently entered and exited the residence when the daycare was closed, according to Aranda.
Friday was a “normal day” at the daycare, according to Mendez, who brought the kids upstairs, read to them, fed them, and then put them to bed. However, according to her attorney, when Dominici didn’t awaken from his nap, she was so concerned that she called 911 and yelled for neighbors.
After being arraigned Sunday night, Mendez, who also works as a home health aide, was committed to Rikers Island without being given a chance to post bail. On Monday in the late afternoon, Brito must appear in court.
The lawyer for Brito didn’t immediately respond to a message left for him. In January of this year, the daycare center opened. Authorities claimed that it passed both of its inspections, including a surprise examination earlier this month.
Emergency workers found Dominici, an 8-month-old girl, and a 2-year-old boy showing symptoms of opioid intoxication when they arrived at the apartment on Friday afternoon.
All three received an overdose-reversing medication called Narcan, which helped the 2-year-old and 8-month-old children manage their symptoms.
Later that day, Dominici was declared deceased at a Bronx hospital.
When a fourth child who had gone to the daycare began exhibiting symptoms of opioid exposure, such as shortness of breath and unresponsiveness, her mother took her to the hospital.
How the kids might have been exposed to the medications is still a mystery. According to the city’s medical examiner’s office, further investigation is needed to determine Dominic’s cause and manner of death. Up to 50 times stronger than heroin, fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that has become a major factor in the rising number of overdose deaths both nationally and in New York City.
To boost the potency of other narcotics like heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine, illegally produced fentanyl is frequently added.
Children’s accidental drug overdoses are also on the rise, with opioids being the most likely drug to kill them through poisoning.
According to a 2019 study published in the Journal of Pediatrics, children were found to have orally consumed the drug in the vast majority of cases rather than touching it or breathing it in the air.
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