Bronx daycare owner pleads guilty after police say 1-year-old died of fentanyl in 2023

Authorities said Gray Mendez pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess and distribute toxic fentanyl at the day care center.

Prosecutors told News 12 that Mendez pleaded guilty to three counts of drug possession and distribution. All three counts carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life.

In September 2023, police raided the Davino Nino nursery in Kingsbridge after they said several young children had been found unconscious.

Police said three children survived and one did not.

One-year-old Nicolas Feliz Dominici died after being exposed to fentanyl.

Officials said they found 1 kilogram of fentanyl and drug packaging equipment with traces of opioids on play mats where children under the age of two were playing and sleeping.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York called Mendez’s conduct “reprehensible” and said “this case demonstrates the senseless collateral damage caused by the fentanyl epidemic.”

Mendez’s guilty plea came nearly two weeks after her husband, Felix Herrera Garcia, was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison for dealing drugs out of a daycare center.