Investigators have found more fentanyl hidden under a trapdoor at the New York City day care where a 1-year-old boy fell ill and later died and three other children got sick from apparent opioid exposure last week, police said.
Detectives discovered the trapdoor in the play area of the day care center while carrying out a search warrant Wednesday, the New York City Police Department said in an update Thursday.
Concealed under the trapdoor, fentanyl, other narcotics and drug paraphernalia were found, the department said, with photos shared by police showing several bags appearing to have been hidden under a floorboard. It was not immediately clear what the other narcotics were.
The NYPD did not immediately respond to an overnight request for more information.
The discovery comes after the owner of the “Divino Niño” day care, Grei Mendez, 36, and alleged accomplice Carlisto Acevedo Brito, 41, were hit with federal charges earlier this week in connection with the death of 1-year-old Nicholas Dominici.
Both Mendez and Brito were charged with conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death and possession with intent to distribute narcotics resulting in death in the Southern District of New York, according to a complaint written by a Drug Enforcement Administration agent that was unsealed Tuesday.
The complaint alleged that drugs had also been stored in a hallway closet on top of children’s playmats at the facility. Two kilo presses, devices typically used by drug dealers to package large quantities of drugs, were also alleged to have been found in the closet along with a third one in the owner’s bedroom.
Mendez and Brito, the cousin of Mendez’s husband who was renting a bedroom at the day care, had been working together from July to September, according to the complaint.
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