A New York City daycare owner and her husband were sentenced Wednesday for the fentanyl poisoning death of a 22-month-old child in their care.
A jury found Grei Méndez, 38, and Félix Herrera García, 37, guilty of second-degree murder last year, as well as assault in the New York case, according to the Bronx District Attorney’s Office. Méndez, owner of the Divino Niño daycare, and her husband, García, were sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
The couple is already serving a 45-year sentence after pleading guilty to federal drug charges in connection with the case. Wednesday’s state prison sentence will run concurrently with the federal sentence.
In the state murder case, prosecutors told the court that large quantities of fentanyl were being processed at the daycare. The same kitchen tools Mendez used to prepare the children’s food were used to process the fentanyl, the state said.
The four children who fell ill in September 2023 were Nicholas Dominici, 22 months; Abel García, 2 years old; Abel’s sister, Kiara García, 8 months; and Jaziel Lino, 2 years old.
Nicholas died from exposure, while the other three children survived. Abel suffered respiratory arrest but was revived at a hospital. His sister and Jaziel were treated for acute opioid poisoning.
Mendez called her husband before calling 911 when she realized the children were sick, and Garcia took out the drugs before fleeing the building with heavy plastic bags, prosecutors said. García fled to Mexico after Nicholas’ death, where he was captured and extradited to New York to face charges.
Authorities found a kilo of fentanyl in a closet and 12 more kilos of narcotics under a trapdoor in the children’s playroom.
Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark referenced the fact that drugs were hidden in the room where the children played and slept when speaking of the couple’s “greed” and “depravity.”
“These babies were shields to protect a narcotics operation,” Clark said in a statement Wednesday.
Mendez expressed remorse when she pleaded guilty to federal charges in 2024, saying they opened the daycare because she believed her husband was trying to help her. But then he realized it was a “perfect way to hide his drug business.”
“This will haunt me as long as I live,” Mendez said at the time.
