Grei Mendez and Felix Herrera Garcia had been running a drug operation out of a licensed child care center where a 22-month-old boy died
Justice for Nicholas
A New York City day care owner and her husband were sentenced on March 4, 2026, to 25 years to life in state prison for the fentanyl poisoning death of a 22-month-old child in their care, bringing to a formal close one of the most disturbing criminal cases in recent New York history. Grei Mendez, 38, who owned the Divino Nino day care center in the Bronx, and her husband Felix Herrera Garcia, 37, were convicted by a jury last year of second-degree murder and assault in the death of Nicholas Dominici, who died in September 2023.
The Crime
Prosecutors told the court that large quantities of fentanyl were being processed at the day care center, using the same kitchen tools Mendez used to prepare food for the children in her care. A kilo of fentanyl was found in a closet; 12 more kilos were found under a trapdoor in the children’s playroom. On September 15, 2023, four children fell ill from opioid exposure. Nicholas, 22 months old, died. Two-year-old Abel Garcia went into respiratory arrest but was revived. His eight-month-old sister Kiara and two-year-old Jaziel Lino were treated for acute opioid intoxication and survived. When Mendez realized the children were sick, she called her husband before calling 911. Garcia removed the drugs and fled the building with weighted plastic bags. He eventually fled to Mexico, where he was later captured and extradited back to New York.
The Sentences
The state sentence of 25 years to life will run concurrent with a federal sentence of 45 years that both Mendez and Garcia are already serving after pleading guilty to federal drug charges in 2024. Mendez told the court at her federal plea that she had entered the day care business believing her husband was trying to help her, only to realize it was “a perfect way to conceal his drug business.” She said, “This will haunt me for as long as I live.”
The Prosecutor’s Words
Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark did not hold back. “These babies were shields to protect a narcotics operation,” she said in a statement Wednesday.
The Father’s Grief
Nicholas Dominici’s father, Otoniel Feliz, has appeared at press conferences alongside DA Clark since 2023 to advocate for justice for his son. The photograph of him holding Nicholas’s picture has become one of the defining images of the case.
The Fentanyl Crisis in Context
Nicholas’s death occurred at the height of a fentanyl epidemic that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has called the deadliest drug crisis in American history, with synthetic opioids now responsible for the majority of more than 80,000 overdose deaths recorded annually in the United States. In New York City, fentanyl has driven dramatic increases in overdose deaths, particularly in the Bronx. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has documented the ways that drug trafficking has adapted to exploit licensed community-facing institutions, a pattern that Nicholas Dominici’s case tragically illustrates.
