Devastated mom rails against trembling owner of NYC daycare where son, 1, died of fentanyl OD as feds reveal she never administered Narcan: Do not forgive you
The devastated mother of a 1-year-old baby who died from fentanyl exposure at a Bronx daycare that doubled as a drug mill said the owner deserved no mercy as she was sentenced Monday to 45 years in prison.“It is not possible to forgive something like this,” Zoila Dominici told a trembling Grei Mendez, 37, in Manhattan federal court of the tragic September 2023 death of Nicholas Feliz Dominici.Little Nicholas died at Mendez’s Divino Niño Daycare in Kingsbridge after inhaling fentanyl that Mendez and her husband have admitted to secretly storing underneath floor tiles where children rested and played.Three other kids, all younger than 3-years old, were hospitalized after being poisoned as well, authorities say.“Forty-five years is not enough,” Dominici said in court Monday.
She stood at a lectern inside the courtroom and stared at Mendez, who sat facing straight ahead at the defense table, not making eye contact with the heartbroken mom.“I do not forgive you,” Dominici added to Mendez, who appeared overcome with emotion, her arms and hands noticeably shaking, throughout the hour-long hearing.“Let God forgive you.”The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District had asked Judge Jed Rakoff to sentence Mendez to at least the 45 years her admitted drug mill boss husband, Felix Herrera Garcia, received in October.But prosecutors said she deserved life in prison as the person most responsible for the toddler’s death.Mendez didn’t administer the rescue medication Narcan on the children despite having a kit in the facility’s daycare cabinet, court papers show.“She had the key to helping these children and she didn’t use it,” federal prosecutor Maggie Lynaugh said.When first responders arrived, Mendez didn’t tell them that the kids might be suffering from an opioid overdose — as little Nicholas lay lifeless on the ground with blue lips and no pulse, court papers show.Mendez pleaded guilty to all counts she faced, including conspirac...