Toddler Was One Of Four Babies Exposed To Drug At Home Daycare That Masked Narcotics Operation
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that the operator of a Bronx home daycare center and her husband have been sentenced 25 years to life in prison for the fentanyl poisoning death of 22-month-old Nicholas Dominici and the exposure of three other children suffered on September 15, 2023.
District Attorney Clark said, “A beautiful little boy died and three children aged eight months to two years became seriously ill from fentanyl poisoning. These babies were shields to protect a narcotics operation. Grei Mendez and her husband, Felix Herrera Garcia showed such depravity that they hid fentanyl under the floor where the children took naps. Little Nicholas paid with his life for their greed; now Mendez and Garcia will spend the rest of their days in prison.”
District Attorney Clark said Grei Mendez, 38, and Felix Herrera Garcia, 37, both of 2705 Morris Avenue, the Bronx, were sentenced today to 25 years to life in prison by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Margaret Clancy. They were found guilty by a jury on November 21, 2025, of second-degree Murder, (depraved indifference to human life); additionally, Mendez was found guilty of first-degree Assault and Hererra Garcia was found guilty of second-degree Assault.
According to facts at trial, on September 15, 2023, in an apartment in 2707 Morris Avenue that was a licensed daycare named El Divino Nino, four children were poisoned by exposure to fentanyl: 22-month-old Nicholas Dominici died, 2-year-old Abel Garcia suffered respiratory arrest but survived after being revived at a hospital, Abel’s 8-month-old sister Kiara Garcia and Jaziel Lino, another 2-year-old boy, suffered acute opioid intoxication requiring hospital treatment. Emergency Medical Service Technicians used Narcan to reverse symptoms of the brother and sister.
According to facts presented at trial, large quantities of fentanyl were being processed in the daycare center, including with the use of kitchen equipment Mendez used to prepare the children’s food. When they were sickened, and before calling 911, Mendez called her husband. He removed drugs and/or paraphernalia, and she can be heard telling him to go out the back. Video showed Herrera Garcia fleeing the building through a back alley while carrying weighted plastic bags before police and medical responders arrived.
A kilo of fentanyl was found in a closet, and twelve additional kilos of fentanyl, heroin and other narcotic substances were found under a trap door in the floor of the playroom, directly below where the children played and slept. Kilo presses and drug packaging paraphernalia were found in the apartment as well.
Mendez and Garcia are currently serving 45-year sentences in federal prison after their convictions for narcotics trafficking resulting in the death of Nicholas. The state prison sentence will run concurrently to the federal sentence.
District Attorney Clark thanked NYPD Detectives Sheldon Smith of the Bronx Homicide Squad, Manuel Cruz of the 52nd Precinct Detective Squad, and Special Agents Edison Serpa and Kyle Harrell of the Drug Enforcement Administration for their work in the investigation. District Attorney Clark also thanked the NYPD Police Laboratory and Latent Print Section for their work in this investigation.
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