Husband of Bronx daycare owner pleads guilty in 1-year-old's fentanyl death
KINGSBRIDGE, Bronx (WABC) -- Two of the four people charged in the pill mill that masqueraded as a Bronx daycare, resulting in the death of a one-year-old boy, have pleaded guilty.
Felix Herrera Garcia, the husband of the daycare operator, pleaded guilty on Monday. Renny Antonio Parra Paredes, a drug dealer doing business with the suspects at the daycare, pleaded guilty in federal court two weeks ago.
Charges are still pending against three suspects in Bronx criminal court.
Garcia, 35, was seen fleeing the daycare out a back alley carrying two heavy shopping bags while children were ailing from the effects of fentanyl.
Four children under the age of four suffered the effects of the exposure. Nicholas Dominci died after being exposed to fentanyl.
Herra Garcia pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death, one count of possession with intent to distribute resulting in death and one count of possession with intent to distribute resulting in serious bodily injury.
All three counts carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum of life.
Herrera Garcia was seen on surveillance video carrying shopping bags and running from the daycare out a back alleyway before first responders arrived to tend to the children.
Investigators said Fentanyl was stored, in part, in a trapdoor beneath the daycare floor.
Herrera Garcia's wife, Grei Mendez, pulled her own child from the facility after suspecting that he showed signs of fentanyl exposure.
According to sources, Mendez never reported the suspected exposure to police and did not allow the boy to return to the facility. However, she kept the daycare open for other children.
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