GREI MENDEZ

UPDATE Norwood & School District 10 Among First for Free Childcare This Fall  

By SÍLE MOLONEY
In what was described as a major step toward universal childcare for children aged six weeks to five years of age, NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced March 3 the first four communities to receive free 2-K seats this fall, and included among them is The Bronx’s School District 10, which covers   Fordham, Belmont, Norwood, Marble Hill, Morris Heights, Riverdale, Spuyten Duyvil, Van Cortlandt Village and Kingsbridge as well as parts of Kingsbridge Heights, Bedford Park, Mount Hope, Claremont- Bathgate & East Tremont

UPDATE Bronx Daycare Provider & Husband Get 25 Years to Life for Murder of Nicholas Feliz Dominici in Fentanyl Poisoning Case

By SÍLE MOLONEY
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark announced Wednesday, March 4, that the operator of a Bronx home daycare center and her husband were each sentenced to 25 years to life in prison by Bronx Supreme Court Justice Margaret Clancy for the accidental death due to fentanyl poisoning of 22-month-old Nicholas Feliz Domenici on Sept. 15, 2023, and for the exposure of three other children to fentanyl who survived the poisoning.

Justice for Nicholas

By SÍLE MOLONEY
In what was another milestone in a long and painful battle to obtain justice for one-year-old Nicholas Feliz Dominici, who died from an accidental fentanyl overdose on Sept. 15, 2023 at a Kingsbridge Heights daycare center, the infant’s parents, Otoniel Feliz Samboy and Zoila Dominici, hugged through their tears inside a Bronx Criminal Court courtroom on Friday, Nov. 21, when a jury delivered two unanimous guilty verdicts for the couple charged in relation to their son’s death.  

Bronx Man Charged with Narcotics Offenses Resulting in Death Used Stash House Occupied by Child

By SÍLE MOLONEY
Federal prosecutors announced Friday, Aug. 1, that a 34-year-old Bronx man, Estherlyn Frias, a/k/a “Platinum,” a/k/a “Silver,” was charged with drug dealing resulting in death in connection with the “overdose” of a victim in Greenwich, Connecticut last month. Prosecutors allege the man ran the drug operation out of his partner’s home where a young child slept in close proximity to potent narcotics.

Daycare Operator Grei Mendez Gets 45 Years for her Part in Fentanyl-Related Death of Nicholas Dominici

By SÍLE MOLONEY
Grei Mendez, 37, the operator of El Divino Niño Daycare Center in Kingsbridge Heights where one-year-old Nicholas Feliz Dominici died on Sept. 15, 2023 from fentanyl poisoning, was sentenced to 45 years in prison for trafficking fentanyl out of the daycare center. The undercover drug operation resulted in the unintentional death of Nicholas, and the poisoning of three other infants who survived being unintentionally poisoned. As reported, Mendez had pleaded guilty in Oct. 29, 2024 in relation to her part in the operation before U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff, who imposed sentence.