Owner of daycare where child died from fentanyl pleads guilty to federal charges

The owner of the kindergarten, where a A 1-year-old boy died of fentanyl poisoning and three other children fell ill, pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal charges, ending a case that horrified New York and highlighted the disaster fentanyl epidemic in the country.

Gray Mendes pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute drugs resulting in death and serious bodily injury, one count of possession with intent to distribute drugs resulting in death, and one count of possession with intent to distribute drugs , which led to serious injuries. The three counts carry a minimum of 20 years in prison and a maximum of life in prison.

Prosecutors said the children were poisoned because Mendez, her husband and a co-conspirator decided to run a large-scale fentanyl packaging and distribution plant out of her daycare center, which she ran out of a small Bronx apartment.

PHOTO: Gray Mendez, the suspect in the kindergarten death of Nicholas Dominici, is taken from the NYPD's 52nd Precinct in the Bronx, New York on September 17, 2023. (New York Daily News via Getty Images) — PHOTO: Gray Mendez, the suspect in the kindergarten death of Nicholas Dominici, is taken from the NYPD’s 52nd Precinct in the Bronx, New York on September 17, 2023. (New York Daily News via Getty Images)

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On the afternoon of Sept. 15, 2023, when 1-year-old Nicholas Dominici and another child became unresponsive, prosecutors said Mendez made a series of calls: first to a community center that directed the children to daycare, then to her husband and then to 911.

Minutes after Mendez called 911, but before emergency crews arrived, prosecutors said surveillance footage showed her husband rushing through the front door and then exiting the back of the building with two heavy bags

Nicholas died from the fentanyl, and three other children, ages 8 months to 2 years, were hospitalized and treated with Narcan, police said.

PHOTO: Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark and the parents of deceased 1-year-old Nicholas Dominici hold a press conference in the Bronx, New York on October 5, 2023. (Theodore Parisien for NY Daily News via Getty Images)

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At the daycare, authorities found a one-kilogram brick of fentanyl, a two-kilogram baler and two hatches that opened to hidden compartments under the tile floor of the playroom, authorities said.

Inside the traps were more than 11 kilograms of drugs, including fentanyl and heroin, as well as tools used to brand, package, distribute and trade drugs, the indictment said.

PHOTO: Gray Mendes, 36, has pleaded not guilty to murder, manslaughter and assault. (WABC)

Federal prosecutors said they have surveillance video and a voice message in which Mendez said it was none of her business to run the daycare to prove the facility was a front for a drug operation.

“Gray Mendes has just pleaded guilty to conspiring to store and distribute large quantities of dangerously toxic fentanyl at a Bronx daycare where parents hoped their children would be protected and safe,” Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. , it said in a statement on Tuesday.

“This case has shown the senseless collateral damage caused by the fentanyl epidemic and should remind us all that the demand for illegal drugs so often puts innocent bystanders at risk while drug traffickers ruthlessly pursue profits,” Williams added.

Earlier this month, Mendez’s husband, Felix Herrera Garcia, was sentenced to 45 years in prison. pleading guilty to federal drug charges. A third accomplice also pleaded guilty.

Owner of daycare where child died from fentanyl pleads guilty to federal charges first appeared on abcnews.go.com