NYC Day Care Owner Stored Fentanyl on Top of Kids’ Playmats: Charges

The owner of a New York City day care where an infant became sick and later died stored deadly amounts of drugs under children’s playmats in the facility, authorities wrote Tuesday in federal charging documents. Grei Mendez, 36, and Carlisto Acevedo Brito, 41, were officially accused of storing and distributing narcotics, resulting in the death of 1-year-old Nicholas Dominici. An agent from the Drug Enforcement Administration wrote in a statement: “Despite the daily presence of children, including infants, the defendants maintained large quantities of fentanyl.” Mendez’ attorney told ABC News that Mendez did not know drugs were present and she immediately called 911 when she observed that the kids were sick. The DEA complaint found that Mendez called her husband before notifying the police. Prior to the first responders’ arrival, cameras captured Mendez’ husband leaving the building with “two shopping bags weighted with contents.” Authorities also discovered that Mendez deleted over 21,000 messages from an encrypted text messaging app, which contained conversations informing her husband that police were interrogating her and that he should look for a lawyer. As of Tuesday afternoon, authorities are still looking for Mendez’ husband.