{"id":48905,"date":"2025-11-22T23:40:21","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T23:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/48905\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T23:40:21","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T23:40:21","slug":"couple-who-hid-fentanyl-at-bronx-day-care-found-guilty-of-murder-in-boys-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/48905\/","title":{"rendered":"Couple who hid fentanyl at Bronx day care found guilty of murder in boy’s death"},"content":{"rendered":"

When all the evidence was shown and a jury began to deliberate in the murder trial against a Bronx couple accused of turning their daycare into a fentanyl stash house<\/a> that left one child dead and three others hospitalized, Otoniel Feliz Samboy couldn\u2019t help but notice the date.<\/p>\n

It was Monday, Nov. 17 \u2014 his son Nicholas Feliz-Dominici\u2019s birthday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would have been his fourth birthday,\u201d Samboy, 34, told the Daily News Saturday. \u201cIt was really hard for us because we\u2019re supposed to be celebrating Nicholas, but Nicholas is not here because of this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Nicholas<\/p>\n

Courtesy of Family<\/p>\n

Nicholas Feliz-Dominici<\/p>\n

Four days later, on Friday, the jury found daycare owner Grei Mendez and her husband, Felix Herrera Garcia, guilty of second-degree murder and assault.<\/p>\n

Nicholas was just 22 months old when he died from exposure to fentanyl at the Divino Ni\u00f1o Daycare<\/a> in Kingsbridge on Sept. 15, 2023. Three other children, ranging in age from 8 months to 2 years old, were hospitalized.<\/p>\n

Police later learned that the fentanyl exposure came from 11 grams of fentanyl and heroin found in trapdoors hidden under the playmats<\/a> where the child napped and ate. A kilogram-sized brick of fentanyl and two press machines were also found in the daycare.<\/p>\n

At left, a trapdoor used to keep drugs hidden under playmats where the child napped and ate at Divino Ni\u00f1o Daycare. At right, Narcan is pictured inside a sink at the daycare. (Court Evidence)<\/p>\n

Investigators also discovered that the couple packaged the drugs with the same kitchen utensils they used to cook the children\u2019s food, officials said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo kids are supposed to be at risk that way,\u201d Samboy said. \u201cNo baby is supposed to be close to any drugs, even alcohol. No baby is supposed to be close to any danger. And they knew what they were doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey keep running this drug business with kids around,\u201d he continued. \u201cAnd then at the end this happened. You cannot justify your actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe building where Divino Ni\u00f1o Daycare operated on Morris Ave. in the Bronx. (Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

When Mendez found little Nicholas and another child unresponsive that afternoon, she didn\u2019t immediately call for help, prosecutors said. She first called her husband and another day care employee<\/a>, who tried to take out the drugs before first responders arrived.<\/p>\n

The couple had been running a drug operation out of the day care since 2022, officials said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey know those kids was sick and they don\u2019t tell anybody,\u201d Samboy said bitterly. \u201cIf they tell the doctor what is going on from the very beginning, Nicholas would be here. They decided who lived and who died. They don\u2019t care about life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"OtonielOtoniel Feliz and Zoila Dominici, parents of Nicholas Dominici, are pictured during a press conference in the Bronx on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023. (Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Samboy and his wife went to court every day during the prolonged trial, which began in late September.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was over three months, going every day,\u201d he said. \u201cThat was painful and stressful because we have to face again, remembering what happened on those days.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey exposed every photo, every video,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s really hard to a parent to face in real time what was going on in this place on those days.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"GreiGrei Mendez is pictured in police custody leaving the NYPD’s 52nd Precinct stationhouse in the Bronx on Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023. (Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark announced the guilty verdict late Friday. The couple is expected to be sentenced next month.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing we can do will bring back Nicholas,\u201d Clark said. \u201cHis death has torn a hole in the hearts of his mother, father and siblings, and saddened the entire Bronx community. I hope that these convictions will give the family a sense of justice and help them to gain peace and closure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grei Mendez and Felix Herrera Garcia are already facing decades in prison on federal drug-trafficking charges, officials said.<\/p>\n

\"FelixFelix Herrera-Garcia is brought into a Bronx courtroom on Thursday, Oct. 5, 2023. (Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Despite the heavy federal prison terms they\u2019re already facing \u2014 Mendez was sentenced to 20 years, Garcia to 45 years \u2014 Samboy wants to make sure the judge overseeing the state criminal case levies a strong sentence against them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know 45 is enough to people,\u201d he said. \u201cBut as a family, we want to hear (a) big number from the judge for the sentence. They tried to say they\u2019re not guilty. But, in the end, justice talked and those amazing members of the jury made their own conclusion, and finally they found those people guilty of those charges.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis does not make my family and myself happy,\u201d he said, \u201cbut we feel a little peace after those results.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When all the evidence was shown and a jury began to deliberate in the murder trial against a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,262,263,266,85,267,9,24,264,12,63,261,265,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-48905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-city","tag-county","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-county","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-crime","tag-sub-county-region","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}