Two Bronx daycare employees have been charged by federal prosecutors after fentanyl was found on top of children’s mats. The drug findings were connected to the poisoning of at least four children, all younger than 3 years-old. Tragically, one of the children, a one year old boy, died.
The two adults were charged with narcotics possession with intent to distribute resulting in death and conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death.”This case reflects every parent’s worst nightmare,” New York Police Department Commissioner Edward Caban said in a statement. “These alleged drug traffickers brazenly went about their illicit business in one of the most ill-conceived locations imaginable, but they will be held accountable.”
The Center Square reports:
Prosecutors alleged that over the summer, Mendez and Acevedo Brito and others conspired to distribute fentanyl, including at a children’s daycare center in the Bronx. The complaint alleges the two “maintained large quantities of fentanyl, including a kilogram of fentanyl stored on top of children’s playmats.”
On Sept. 15, four children, all younger than 3 years old, appear to have experienced the effects of poisoning from exposure to fentanyl.
Before Mendez called 911 to summon medical assistance for the children, she called another person, referred to as an unnamed co-conspirator in the complaint. That person came to the daycare, stayed for about two minutes and then left out a back alleyway carrying two shopping bags. This happened while the children were unresponsive.
“Tragedy doesn’t begin to describe the events that took place at Divino Niño Daycare,” said Special Agent in Charge Frank Tarentino III of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s New York Field Division. “This death and drug poisonings are every parent’s worst nightmare and clearly define the danger fentanyl poses to every New Yorker.”
