Man given 45-year sentence for trafficking fentanyl from NYC daycare where toddler died

A New York man was sentenced to 45 years in prison for trafficking fentanyl out of a day care center where a toddler died and three others were poisoned after they were exposed to the drug, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

Felix Herrera Garcia, 35, of the Bronx, was also sentenced to five years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said in a statement.

Garcia pleaded guilty in June to conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death and possession with intent to distribute narcotics resulting in death. His attorneys listed in court records could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday night.

Herrera Garcia, his wife and two other people were charged in connection with the Sept. 15, 2023, poisoning of children at the Divino Niño day care center in the Bronx. Herrera Garcia was captured in Mexico after he fled the country, authorities said.

Nicholas Dominici, who was 22 months old, died and two other children were found unresponsive at the center, where prosecutors said “a fentanyl mill” was operating.

A third child was lethargic and unresponsive at home after having been picked up.

According to a criminal complaint, the surviving children had to be given the overdose reversal drug naloxone, known by the brand name Narcan.

From October 2022 to September 2023 Herrera Garcia and other defendants conspired to sell drugs out of the day care center, prosecutors said. Herrera Garcia and co-conspirators kept more than 11 kilograms of fentanyl in “secret compartments, or traps, located underneath the floor tiles in the playroom of the Daycare, where the children played, ate, and slept on a daily basis,” prosecutors said.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in Wednesday’s statement that Herrera Garcia recklessly placed babies at risk of fentanyl exposure.

“This case demonstrates the deadly reach and scope of the fentanyl epidemic, and the profound damage it inflicts on American lives, including the lives of the most vulnerable among us,” Williams said. “This Office and our law enforcement partners will work tirelessly to ensure that anyone who harms or risks the lives of children in connection with their deadly narcotics activities will be brought to justice.”