Fourth suspect in fentanyl day care death arrested
A fourth suspect linked to the Bronx day care center under investigation for Fentanyl drug distribution and the death of a 1-year-old boy has been arrested in Mexico, where he was on the run from authorities, according to the New York Police department.
The suspect was taken into custody in Mexico, the NYPD confirmed to USA TODAY. Felix Herrera Garcia, the husband of the owner and operator of the Divino Niño day care center, was arrested on a bus in Sinaloa by Mexican authorities and US Drug Enforcement Administration agents, CNN and CBS New York reported.
Authorities had been searching for Herrera Garcia for nearly two weeks after surveillance video allegedly captured him fleeing from the day care center carrying two full shopping bags, which investigators believe contained bricks of fentanyl. The charges against him have not yet been disclosed.
Herrera Garcia is the fourth person to be arrested in the death of Nicholas Feliz Dominici, who was found unconscious by first responders on Sept. 15. Three other children from the day care center were also treated for suspected fentanyl poisoning and recovered after being administered Narcan.
The incident has sparked public outcry and three people – Grei Mendez, 36; Carlisto Acevedo Brito, 41; and Renny Antonio Parra Paredes, 38 – have been charged in connection to the boy’s death.
New York Police Department Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Herrera Garcia had been on the run from authorities and was traveling by a vehicle through Texas to Mexico, the New York Times reported. Authorities believe that Herrera Garcia was attempting to travel to the Dominican Republic, where he is from.
He was on a bus in the city of Sinaloa, home to one of the world’s deadliest drug cartels, when he was captured by Mexican and US federal authorities.
An attorney for Mendez, who is Herrera Garcia’s wife, said at a court hearing last week that the drug dealing allegations were “about Ms. Mendez’s husband, not her.”
Mendez and Acevedo Brito, who lived in the apartment where the day care was operating, were charged with murder of “depraved indifference” last week. Both were ordered held without bail. They also face federal charges, including conspiracy and narcotics possession with intent to distribute resulting in death.
Another man, Paredes, also known as “El Gallo,” was charged in federal court on Monday with conspiracy to distribute the narcotics.
On Sept. 15, NYPD officers were called to the day care center where they found an 8-month-old girl and two boys, 1 and 2, unconscious. All three children were administered Narcan after first responders determined they were exhibiting signs of a drug overdose.
While two of the children recovered, 1-year-old Dominici later died at a hospital. Another 2-year-old boy from the day care was checked a hospital after his mother noticed he was “lethargic and unresponsive” and recovered after being administered Narcan.