Day Care Owner at Notorious MDC in Toddler Fentanyl Case

Nicholas Domenici, 22 months old, likely ingested fatal fentanyl through lunch bowl and utensils.

More than a year after three toddlers and a baby were overcome by fentanyl at her Divino Niño day care in the Bronx, with one boy dying, the facility's owner Grei Mendez remains locked up at the violent Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, pending her federal trial that's scheduled for November 4th.

We checked on the status of the 37 year old wife and mother, after her husband received a 45 year prison sentence on October 16th. Felix Herrera-Garcia pleaded guilty in June to trafficking fentanyl out of the daycare, resulting in death. His wife has pleaded not guilty.

Grei Mendez faces federal trial in toddler’s fentanyl death at day care.

Some stunning information was revealed during last week's sentencing of Herrera-Garcia, who was captured in Mexico last fall, about two weeks after he fled the daycare on September 15, 2023 with two bags.

Felix Herrera-Garcia was captured in Mexico and received 45 years in prison after guilty plea.

Prosecutors said two nights before the small children were poisoned with fentanyl, Herrera-Garcia and relatives spent six hours packaging drugs in the day care's kitchen, according to the New York Times. They said his wife, Grei Mendez, helped--utilizing bowls and other kitchen utensils that were also used to prepare the tiny children's snacks and lunches during the daytime hours.

At the husband's sentencing, the assistant U.S. Attorney stated drug testing showed that little Nicholas Dominici ingested a "very substantial" amount of fentanyl on the day he died, adding, "The likely source of the ingestion was the children's lunch."

Herrera-Garcia famously ran out a back alley of the basement facility on September 15 last year--carrying two bags of narcotics and drug-processing materials--after his wife reported the children didn't wake from their naps. Police said Grei Mendez called him before dialing 911. Her husband was out the door, just before ambulances turned up.

Felix Herrera-Garcia, husband of day care owner, fled with bags from a back alley when children didn’t wake up.

A two year old who had gone home early that day was taken to a hospital separately, because of severe lethargy. He was revived with Narcan, along with an eight month old baby girl and a two year old boy that were discovered unconscious at Divino Niño. But Nicholas Dominici, 22 months old, could not be saved.

The sentencing hearing revealed that Felix Herrera-Garcia's brother died in 2022 while packaging fentanyl in the Bronx. That's the same year Herrera-Garcia leased the one bedroom, basement apartment on Morris Avenue that his wife later converted into a daycare.

A week after Nicholas Dominici died, investigators in the toddler fentanyl case received a tip about a 'trap door' under the daycare's tile floor that hid fentanyl and heroin. This was the spot where the children took naps on mats or played on the floor. Investigators discovered 11 kilos of fentanyl and heroin in the secret compartments under the floor and in a closet at the daycare.

‘Trap door’ hid drugs under tile floor at day care where children napped and played.

Greed is a powerful motivator, and prosecutors said Felix Herrera-Garcia continued to traffic fentanyl even after he, his wife, and young child became sick after apparent fentanyl exposure. A stamp found in the day care contained the label "Red Dawn," the name the drugs were sold under.

Grei Mendez, the daycare owner, is scheduled for trial the day before Election Day in the U.S.

The presumption of innocence is an American right, just like the privilege to vote.

Like her husband, Mendez is charged with conspiracy to distribute narcotics, resulting in death.

Before she was placed under arrest, police said she deleted 20,000 text messages from her phone, but they were able to recover them.