Bronx, N.Y., daycare owner where 1-year-old died pleads guilty

The owner of a Bronx, N.Y., daycare where four children under her supervision last year suffered fentanyl poisoning, including a 1-year-old who died, pleaded guilty Tuesday to selling the potent and dangerous drug from the center.

The 37-year-old woman, Grei Mendez, admitted in court Tuesday to conspiring to hold and distribute large quantities of fentanyl from the Bronx daycare, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said.



"Mendez's reprehensible conduct resulted in the needless and tragic death of a child, and the poisoning of three others," Williams said in . "From the beginning, this case has shown the senseless collateral damage caused by the fentanyl epidemic and should remind us all that the demand for illegal narcotics so often puts innocent bystanders at risk while drug traffickers ruthlessly pursue profits." Mendez to one count each of conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death and serious bodily injury, possession with intent to distribute narcotics resulting in death and possession with intent to distribute narcotics resulting in serious bodily injury.

The charges come with a sentence of 20 years to life in prison. Prosecutors her and her husband, Felix Herrera Garcia, of running a drug operation out of their Divino Niño Daycare in the Bronx. He was sentenced to 45 years in prison on Oct.

16, after pleading guilty in June. According to federal prosecutors, the couple distributed narcotics from the daycare from October 2022 until the afternoon of Sept. 15, 2023, when Mendez called police concerning three unresponsive children between the ages of 8 months and 2 years.

The children were rushed to the hospital where a 1-year-old boy died. The two other children were treated with Narcan, a treatment administered to counter opioid overdoses. A fourth child, who had earlier been picked up from the center, was later taken to the hospital.

Police searched the facility, and uncovered 1 kilo of fentanyl inside a bag stacked upon children's playmats in a hallway closet. Additional drugs were also found under a trap floor, as well as tools used to distribute them..