Infant boy dead, 3 others hospitalized after opioid exposure at Bronx day care, police say

This story has been updated with the names of the people charged in the death of a 1-year-old boy. An earlier version of this story included the incorrect name of the day care. Police say the incident took place at Divino Niño Day Care.

Two people were charged with murder on Saturday after a 1-year-old boy died and three other young children were hospitalized from opioid exposure at a Bronx day care.

Police and first responders arrived at the Divino Niño Day Care on Morris Avenue on Friday afternoon, where police say they found three children unconscious and showing symptoms of opioid exposure.

All three were taken to Montefiore Medical Center, where the 1-year-old boy was pronounced dead. A 2-year-old boy was listed in critical condition and an 8-month-old girl was listed in stable condition.

“All three children were unresponsive and demonstrating symptoms of opioid exposure,” said NYPD Chief of Detectives Joe Kenny in a press conference early Saturday morning. “Narcan was administered to all three of these children in an attempt to save their lives.”

Another 2-year-old boy who was picked up from the day care center that afternoon was taken to BronxCare Health System after his mother said he was acting lethargic and unresponsive. Police said he was in stable condition.

Day care owner Grei Mendez, 36, and upstairs neighbor Carlisto Acevedo Brito, 41, were charged with murder in the overdose death of the 1-year-old boy, police said on Saturday. The murder charge, “depraved indifference,” is introduced when someone “recklessly engages in conduct which creates grave risk of death to another person,” according to New York law.

Mendez was also charged with two counts of manslaughter, 12 counts of assault, five counts of drug possession and four counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

Brito was charged with two counts of manslaughter, 16 counts of assault, five counts of drug possession and four counts of endangering the welfare of a child.

Kenny said investigators discovered a “kilo press” at the day care center — a tool commonly used for packaging drugs, Kenny said.

State records show a day care operating out of the ground floor at the address was first licensed in May. A person who answered the phone at the number registered with the day care declined to answer questions about the incident.

City Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan said the facility was a home day care that opened in January and passed a recent inspection. Police did not identify fentanyl as the opioid in question but Vasan said it can have an effect if inhaled or through exposure to the skin.

He said the fact that children could have been exposed to such a substance was a sign of the dangers of the current opioid crisis.

“What it tells us is the overdose crisis affects all of us which is why it’s an all-hands-on-deck, public health moment,” Vasan told reporters.

“As a father, I can tell you, my kids are my heart,” said NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban. “And my heart is heavy this evening.”