Children are the subject of a daily struggle for space
Footprints of a “Depraved Difference” in Dominici’s Death at a Bronx-area Day Care Center
A kilogram of Fentanyl was found under a trap door, along with multiple devices used to mix drugs and pressing it into bricks, after police announced the discovery near mats used for sleeping.
New York City detectives were executing a search warrant on the Bronx apartment Thursday when they found the narcotics, including a large quantity of fentanyl, and other paraphernalia concealed by plywood and tile flooring. Photos shared by police show bags full of powder inside the “trap floor,” a few steps away from a shelf of children’s toys.
The grim discovery came nearly a week after four young children attending the day care in the Bronx apartment were treated for opioid poisoning. Nicholas Dominici, the 1-year-old is believed to have died from exposure.
The day care center operator, Grei Mendez, and a tenant of the building, Carlisto Acevedo Brito, were charged with murder of “depraved indifference” in Dominici’s death. The husband and cousin of Brito are still being sought by authorities.
Federal prosecutors said Mendez, 36, took steps to cover up the drug operation on Friday afternoon, shortly after realizing that some of the children in her care were not waking up from their naps.
The case of Nicholas Mendez, the father of a young child and a Brooklyn woman whose day care is boarding house with stealth
She contacted her husband before notifying first responders. He left through the back alley with several shopping bags after entering the building.
“All of that happened while the children, the babies, were suffering from effects of fentanyl poisoning and in desperate need of help,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damien Williams said at a press conference Wednesday.
During a federal court appearance in Manhattan, an attorney for Mendez said she had no knowledge of the drug operation, while suggesting that her husband was responsible for the drugs.
If convicted of federal charges of possession with intent to distribute narcotics resulting inDeath and conspiracy, they could face up to life in prison. They were also charged in state court with murder, manslaughter, and assault.
The day care-cum-boarding house with stealth drug operation was the best option for the 8 or so children that took it, and it speaks volumes about how limited the options are for struggling parents. Nicholas’s father, Otoniel Feliz, has said that he had no idea that a tenant was living there when he sent his son to the center. He might have made a different decision if he’d known.
Whether or not that is the real story, the circumstances of this death give us a broad look at some of the most horrific possibilities in a city defined by constrained space — where every square foot can seem contested, pressed into multiple service. It was the second time in just a few weeks that a devastating loss took place because of an informal lease agreement. A man killed a woman in his apartment in Brooklyn when he went after her with a hammer, causing serious injuries to her children and forcing them to relearn how to walk. They were expected to die.
A day care centre operator in the US has been charged with murder of “depraved indifference” in the death of a six-year-old boy who was poisoned with fentanyl. A kilogram of the drug was found under a trap door, along with multiple devices used to mix drugs and pressing it into bricks, after police announced the discovery.