Honk News (New York City) – A daycare owner in New York City has received a nearly 50-year prison sentence after a tragic incident involving a 1-year-old in her care who died from fentanyl exposure, revealing that her childcare facility was also being used as a narcotics stash house.
Grei Mendez, 37, entered a guilty plea in October for a conspiracy charge related to the distribution of narcotics that led to death and serious bodily harm, along with two counts of drug possession, stemming from the tragic incident in September 2023 that resulted in the death of a 1-year-old and the poisoning of three other children under her supervision.
On Monday, March 3, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York announced that she received a 45-year prison sentence.
A tragic incident occurred involving 22-month-old Nicholas Feliz Dominici, who lost his life after children’s play mats were kept beneath a 1-kilogram brick of fentanyl at the Divino Niño daycare in the Bronx, as previously reported by PEOPLE.
Prosecutors revealed that Mendez and her associates ran a drug operation from the daycare from June 2022 to September 2023. During this period, they stored over 11 kilograms of fentanyl and heroin in hidden compartments beneath the playroom floor tiles.
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Mendez’s cousin, 41-year-old Carlisto Acevedo Brito, was taken into custody alongside him, facing serious allegations including assault, criminal possession of a controlled substance and narcotic drug, endangering the welfare of a child, and manslaughter, as reported by the NYPD.
“No punishment can make up for a child lost,” acting U.S. Attorney Matthew Podolsky said in Monday’s statement. “But today’s sentence sends the message that this Office and our law enforcement partners will work tirelessly to bring to justice anyone who uses children as a shield in the drug trade.”
In October 2023, he entered a plea of not guilty to the federal charges against him.
Mendez has been sentenced to five years of supervised release.