Credit, OTONIEL FELIZ SAMBOY
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Nicholas Dominici is due to turn two in November
September 21, 2023, 10:24 03
Updated 3 hours ago
The death of oneyearold Nicholas Dominici from a suspected overdose of fentanyl a synthetic opioid 50 times more powerful than heroin and responsible for 75,000 deaths in the US alone last year shocked New Yorkers.
According to police, he died after inhaling the powerful drug at the Bronx daycare run by Grei Mendez.
Three other children were hospitalized.
The drug was found under a rug where the children used to sleep, authorities said.
Mendez was arrested and police are now looking for her husband.
On Wednesday (September 20), a New York Police Department spokesman told the BBC that police were still trying to determine the identity of the spouse of the woman accused of being involved in Nicholas’ death.
Video footage shows the husband fleeing before the police arrive.
There is currently no reward being offered for his arrest.
Three children were revived with Narcan, a drug that reverses a fentanyl overdose, after police were called to the Divino Niño daycare center on Friday evening (September 15).
One kilogram of fentanyl was discovered “under a carpet where the children were sleeping,” said NYPD Chief Detective Joseph Kenny on Monday.
Grei Mendez, 36, the owner of the Divino Niño daycare center, and her neighbor, Carlisto Acevedo Brito, 41, are charged with possession of narcotics “with the intent to distribute and to distribute them resulting in death,” according to federal prosecutors.
Security camera footage and phone records show that Mendez called Brito several times after finding out the children were sick before even contacting 911, the United States’ emergency number.
Then her husband came and picked up several full shopping bags from the daycare, authorities said.
According to prosecutors, Mendez also allegedly deleted around 20,000 text messages from his phone before his arrest.
Authorities were later able to recover the contents.
Mendez’s attorney said his client denied the allegations and did not know the drugs were being kept at the daycare.
According to police, the fentanyl stored there could have killed 500,000 people.
City health surveillance inspectors conducted a surprise visit to the daycare center on September 6 but found no fault.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams defended the officers on Wednesday, telling NY1: “The inspector did his job. And we definitely shouldn’t give the impression that the inspector has failed these children and their families.”
“Who didn’t do their job?” he added. “These people who are supposed to protect the children there.”
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Grei Mendez (photo) said he didn’t know through his lawyer that there were drugs in the daycare
The father of a 2yearold boy who survived fentanyl exposure told ABC News that he considered the presence of three men outside the building on Thursday and Friday suspicious.
Drug deaths include a growing number of very young children.
Over the weekend, one child died and two others became ill in separate fentanylrelated incidents in Washington state, police said.
Across the country, prosecutors are filing charges against parents whose children died after taking the deadly drug.