Owner of Bronx day care where 1-year-old died after believed fentanyl exposure, neighbor taken into police custody.
The owner of a Bronx day care and a neighbor were taken into police custody Saturday in connection with the death of a 21-month-old boy and the sickening of three other kids from fentanyl found at the facility, sources told The Post.
Charges are pending against Divino Nino owner Grei Mendez De Ventura and Carlisto Acevedo Brito, who sources said hails from the Dominican Republic and is a new arrival in the United States. The 41-year-old Brito’s legal status is unclear.
A third suspect is still being sought.
Ventura, 36, opened the Morris Avenue day care in May, and the facility passed a surprise annual inspection Sept. 6, records show.
Nearly a kilo of fentanyl and a kilo press , a device typically used to combine fentanyl with either cocaine or heroin, was found inside the space apartment that was also used by the day care, officials and police sources said.
The children are believed to have inhaled the deadly drug, sources said.
The mother and grandmother of two of the survivors — a 2-year-old boy in critical condition at Montefiore Hospital and his 8-month-old sister — praised the police work.
“It’s good, it’s very good. I want justice, because what happened here is unbelievable,” the mom of the two kids told The Post.
“All guilt will be paid,” said the children’s grandmother. Both women asked for anonymity.
The horrific scene unfolded around 2:40 p.m. Friday, when the four tots — the 1-year-old boy, two 2-year-old boys and an 8-month-old girl — were found unresponsive in the day care, sources said.
Two of the kids were in cardiac arrest when first responders arrived at the facility, with 21-month-old Nicholas Dominici and the 2-year-old boy being given multiple doses of the overdose-reversing drug Narcan, authorities said.
Nicholas later died at Montefiore Hospital.
A fourth child picked up from the day care center just before 1 p.m. Friday also appeared to have been exposed to drugs, officials said.
His mother rushed her 2-year-old son to Bronxcare Hospital when she realized the child, who had appeared to have been sleeping, was unresponsive. THe child is recovering, authorities said.
