A Bronx, New York, owner of a day care center where a one-year-old child died pleads guilty

UPI — A September 2023 search of Divino Niño Daycare in the Bronx, New York, turned up drugs and drug paraphernalia. On Tuesday, Grei Mendez pleaded guilty to running a drug distribution center out of a daycare center after four children fell ill from the drug, including a 1-year-old boy who died. Photo courtesy of Department of Justice/Parole

Oct. 29 (UPI) — The owner of a Bronx, New York, day care center where four children in her care suffered fentanyl poisoning last year, including a 1-year-old who died, pleaded guilty Tuesday to selling the powerful and dangerous drug at the center.

A 37-year-old woman, Grei Mendez, pleaded guilty in court Tuesday to conspiring to store and distribute large amounts of fentanyl from a Bronx day care center, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said.

“Mendez’s reprehensible conduct resulted in the unnecessary and tragic death of a child and the poisoning of three other people,” Williams said in a statement. statement.

“This case has exposed the senseless collateral damage of the fentanyl epidemic from the beginning and should remind us all that the demand for illicit drugs often puts innocent bystanders at risk while drug traffickers ruthlessly pursue profits.”

Mendez he pleaded guilty one includes conspiracy to distribute drugs resulting in death or serious bodily injury, possession with intent to distribute drugs resulting in death, and possession with intent to distribute drugs resulting in serious bodily injury.

The charges carry a sentence of 20 years to life in prison.

Prosecutors accused her and her husband, Felix Herrera Garcia, for running a drug operation out of the Divino Niño preschool in the Bronx. On October 16, he was sentenced to 45 years in prison after pleading guilty in June.

According to federal prosecutors, the pair distributed drugs from the day care center from October 2022 until the afternoon of Sept. 15, 2023, when Mendez called police about three unresponsive children, ages 8 months to 2 years old.

The children were taken to hospital, where a one-year-old boy died. The other two children were treated with Narcan, a drug used to prevent opioid overdoses. The fourth child, who had been picked up from the center earlier, was later taken to hospital.

Police searched the property and discovered 1 kilogram of fentanyl in a bag placed on children’s play mats in a hall closet. Additional drugs and tools used to distribute them were also found under the floor of the trap.