The husband of the owner of a New York City day care where a 1-year-old boy died following fentanyl exposure has been arrested Felix Herrera Garcia was arrested in Mexico, on a bus in Sinaloa, after a manhunt that lasted more than a week, the sources saidFollowing Garcia’s arrest, Mexican authorities who apprehended him provide further details regarding his capture in a statement. “In a coordinated manner, elements of the State Preventive Police and Municipal Police detained in Culiacán, a man of Dominican nationality with two arrest warrants in the United States
The police in the first instance detained the man for administrative offenses, so he was taken to Court in the state capital and due to his nationality, his details were checked with foreign authorities, who reported that the man had two arrest warrants for the crime of drug conspiracy and homicide of a child,” the statement saidFollowing these events, he was placed at the disposal of the corresponding immigration authorities in order to determine his situation and carry out the pertinent procedure established by the law of the neighboring country On Sept 15 Nicholas Dominici a 1-year-old, died following exposure to fentanyl at the day care
Three other children, ranging in age from 8 months to 2 years, were hospitalized and treated with Narcan, police said. An analysis of urine from one of the victims confirmed the presence of fentanyl, officials saidInvestigators found a kilo of fentanyl stored on kids’ play mats at the day care, along with a device to press drugs into bricks for sale, according to court records. In a trap floor under the day care’s play area, investigators found fentanyl, other narcotics and drug paraphernalia, police saidThe first two to be arrested were day care owner Grei Mendez, who is Garcia’s wife, and Carlisto Acevedo Brito, who is Garcia’s cousin and Mendez’s tenant
They face federal charges of narcotics possession with intent to distribute resulting in death and conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death as well as state charges including murderFelix Herrera Garcia, husband of Grei Mendez, was on a bus in the city of Sinaloa when he was taken into custody by Mexican authorities and US Drug Enforcement Administration agents Tuesday, one of the sources said the statement readlaw enforcement sources told ABC News Garcia was allegedly seen in surveillance images running out of the Bronx day care with heavy shopping bags as the children were suffering from fentanyl exposure, according to court records
Herrera Garcia along with the three others arrested as part of the alleged conspiracy – Mendez, Carlisto Acevedo Brito, 41, and Renny Antonio Parra Paredes, 38 – were all said to be mid-level drug distributors, a federal law enforcement official previously told CNNwho was allegedly seen on surveillance video running from the day care centerwith plastic bags that investigators believe contain fentanyl after the children fell unconscious – is in the custody of US Marshals, who will handle his extradition to New York arrest caps off an intense manhunt that was sparked by public outcry stemming from the suspected fentanyl exposure death
New York Police Department officers were called to the day care center around 2:30 p.m. on September 15 where they discovered three unconscious children. First responders administered Narcan – a drug that reverses the effect of opioid overdose – to all three children to reverse the overdose, said NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny at an earlier news conference identified by authorities as 1-year-old Nicholas Dominici – died at a local hospital, NYPD officials said. Another child, a 2-year-old, was taken to a hospital after they were picked up by their parents. That child was also treated for exposure to the highly potent drug, police officials have said