Police find fentanyl in NY day care ‘trap floor’ after 1-year-old died

Updated: Sep. 22, 2023, 6:40 a.m.|Published: Sep. 22, 2023, 6:40 a.m.
By The Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — The owners of a New York City day care center where a toddler died and three others were sickened by opioid exposure last week were hiding bags of fentanyl beneath a trap door in the children’s play area, police said.

New York City detectives were executing a search warrant on the Bronx apartment Thursday when they found the narcotics, including a large quantity of fentanyl, and other paraphernalia concealed by plywood and tile flooring. Photos shared by police show bags full of powder inside the “trap floor,” a few steps from a shelf of children’s toys.

The grim discovery came nearly a week after four young children attending the day care in the Bronx apartment were treated for opioid poisoning. One of the victims, 1-year-old Nicholas Dominici, is believed to have died from the exposure.

The day care center operator, Grei Mendez, and a tenant of the building, Carlisto Acevedo Brito, were charged with murder of “depraved indifference” in Dominici’s death. Authorities are still seeking a third individual, Mendez’s husband and a cousin to Brito.

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