Infant dies of fentanyl overdose hidden under mattress at daycare center

A one-year-old boy died tragically in nursery in New Yorkas it was exposed to narcotic fentanyl which was hidden under the mattress she was sleeping on. As it states BBClittle Nicholas Dominici was administered Narcan—an emergency drug used to reverse opioid overdoses—in an attempt to reverse the overdose of the substance he had inhaled, with efforts unfortunately proving fruitless.

Three more children were hospitalized after exposure to the powerful drug at the Bronx daycare center, while charges of drug trafficking conspiracy and murder were formed at the expense of two people. A search of the daycare turned up a pound of fentanyl that was discovered under a mattress, NYPD Detective Chief Joseph Kenney said Monday. Police also discovered three presses used to package drugs and say the drugs recovered from the kindergarten they could have killed 500,000 people.

The 36-year-old owner of the Divino Niño nursery, Gray Mendez, and her tenant, Carlisto Acevedo Brito, face federal charges for drug possession “with intent to distribute resulting in death and conspiracy to distribute drugs resulting in death,” according to federal prosecutors. “We maintain that the accused they poisoned four babies and killed one of thembecause they were running a drug business out of a daycare,” Manhattan District Attorney Damien Williams said Tuesday, adding: “A daycare is a place where children should be safe, not surrounded by a drug that can kill them instantaneously”.

The surveillance plans and phone records show that after finding the children sick, Mendez called her husband several times before calling 911, who is seen arriving at the scene and removing several bags from the station, trying to get rid of incriminating evidence. In fact, Mendez also allegedly deleted about 20,000 text messages from her phone before her arrest, according to prosecutors, which authorities were able to recover.

Authorities are still searching for her husband, who has been identified in court documents as a co-conspirator. According to police, he was caught on camera leaving the scene after the incident. Mendez’s attorney said she denies the charges and was unaware the drugs were kept at the preschool. “Her only crime was renting out her room to someone who had a kilo,” her lawyer, Andres Aranda, said, according to ABC News. “There is no evidence that she did anything other than properly care for these children,” he added.

What is fentanyl?

Fentanyl is a synthetic painkiller 50 times more powerful than heroin and has been blamed for increasing deaths from drugs in the USA.

In 2010, fewer than 40,000 people died of drug overdoses nationwide, and fewer than 10% of those deaths involved fentanyl.

By 2021, more than 100,000 people died annually from drug overdoses, with about 66% of those linked to fentanyl.

Source: News Beast

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