The husband of the owner of a Bronx day care where a 1-year-old child died after allegedly being exposed to fentanyl has been apprehended in Mexico, three sources told NBC News.
The husband was seen on security footage at the day care Sept. 15, the day that 1-year-old, Nicholas Dominici, was sickened and later died, according to a criminal complaint.
Three other children were hospitalized.
Three people have been criminally charged — Grei Mendez, 36, the owner of the day care center; and Carlisto Acevedo Brito, 41, and Renny Antonio Parra Paredes, 38, federal officials have said.
The husband was taken into custody by Mexican state police and agents with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and U.S. Marshals Service, the three sources told NBC News.
He was on a bus heading to Sinaloa when he was apprehended, the sources said. His name has not been released.
Paredes, Mendez and Brito worked together to deal drugs, and they kept a kilogram of fentanyl at the day care on children’s sleeping mats, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said.
Investigators found “traps,” or hidden compartments, in the floor of the Divino Niño daycare, in a room where children slept, and found suspected drugs and packaging material there, the office said.
All four children are believed to have suffered poisoning from exposure to fentanyl, federal prosecutors have said.
Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid that is used to treat severe pain when used legally. But the drug is abused, or mixed with other drugs like heroin, and is a driving force in the opioid crisis and the rise in overdose deaths in the U.S., officials say.
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