SERIALously - 70: Drug Trafficking Ring Discovered Inside Daycare & Underneath Sleeping Children? | The SICKENING Case of Divino Nino Daycare

Episode Date: October 4, 2023

Recent headlines have included the horrifying case of multiple children exposed to fentanyl in a New York City daycare. This ultimately led to the death of a toddler, the arrest of several adults, and the manhunt of one man said to be behind it all. In today's episode we are going to break down all the latest facts of the case and see where things stand now in the investigation. Your True Crime BFF, Annie Elise SERIALously Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/serialouslypod/ All Social Media Links https://www.flowcode.com/page/annieelise_ About Me: https://annieelise.com/ SERIALously FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/SERIALouslyAnnieElise/ Join Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/annieelise For Business Inquiries: [e-mail] All Social Media Links: https://www.flowcode.com/page/annieelise_ About Me: https://annieelise.com/ SERIALously FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/SERIALouslyAnnieElise/ For Business Inquiries: [e-mail]

Hey true crime besties, welcome back to an all new episode of Serialistly. Hey everybody, welcome back to an all-new bonus episode of Serialistly. It's me, Annie. Now guys, you're my true crime besties, and there's a case that has been ongoing that a lot of you have been requesting that I cover, and I felt like I just had to really jump on here, and I needed to talk with you about it. The podcast is where I can do it because YouTube, unfortunately, censors almost everything, so I wanted to jump on here and really break down this case. In today's episode, we are going to be talking about a case that is very new and ongoing. It has to do with a daycare. Now, we know daycares should be a place that you can trust with your life, and more importantly, your child's life.

Now, I can say from experience, entrusting your young child with someone new, whether that be a babysitter, a coach, a teacher, or a daycare, is one of the most scary things as a parent. But when you finally find the right caretaker, you think that you can finally, you know, have a sigh of relief, breathe some fresh air, and just take a beat and send your child off with that person or to that place knowing that they are in good hands. Well, in today's case, that sadly is not the case. 36-year-old Gray Mendez ran an in-home daycare called Divino Nino, and it was called Divino Nino Daycare to be exact.

The name came from a 20th century wooden statue of Jesus as a young child originating from Bogota, as a young child, originating from Bogota, Colombia. I hope I'm saying that right. So the name Divino Nino can be translated to Divine Child Jesus. Anyway, in January of 2023, Gray opened up the small daycare on Morris Avenue in the residential neighborhood of Kingsbridge, which is in the northwest side of the Bronx, New York City, with a capacity of eight kids ranging in age from six weeks old to 12 years old. A neighbor, Anna Ortiz, described the daycare as beautiful, up to code, and said that it was run by good people. She even went as far as to say that if she had kids, she would send them to Divino Nino. The daycare received its license in May of 2023, and on September 6th, it passed an annual and unannounced

inspection with zero violations. Now, the operative word in that is unannounced. Not only did they pass an inspection, but they passed an unannounced one, meaning, or you would think, that everything was completely up to code, so much so that they weren't even expecting this visit, that it was a drop-by pop-in visit, and they still passed with zero violations. So everything seemed to be running pretty smoothly with the daycare on the surface. That was until just a week and a half later, on September 15th, 2023. The kids at the daycare were given a snack, and then they all went down for nap time like they normally did every single day. But at 2.40pm, four children were found unresponsive in the basement, which is where the daycare was actually being run out of. A one-year-old boy, two two-year-old boys, and an eight-month-old little

girl, all unresponsive. Police were called for the reports of cardiac arrest. Mel Ramirez, a neighbor, heard screaming from the apartment. Mel heard Grace screaming for help, saying, The kids are dead. The kids are dead. Multiple times. When Mel went outside to see what was going on, she saw one of the children unresponsive on the ground, with a woman crying, trying to help another kid who was unconscious, while other children were being brought out. kid who was unconscious while other children were being brought out. The children were pale, and one of the boys was described as having his mouth hanging open. The scene was absolutely heartbreaking and obviously extremely chaotic. When cops arrived, they gave three of the children Narcan, with only one of them responding to the drug. The children were then rushed to the hospital

where tragically, one of them, the one-year-old boy who was later identified as Nicholas Dominici, was declared dead. Other than the eight-month-old girl needing fluids for dehydration, her as well as her siblings, the two two-year-old boys, were luckily in stable condition. After the apartment was cleared from the incident being from a possible carbon monoxide poisoning at first, an investigation was put into place as to whether or not the children consumed fentanyl or some other type of drug. But why and how? Out of all of the places, why would a daycare have any drugs or any fentanyl of any sort? Well, it turned out that a urine test from one of the children confirmed the cop's suspicion that it was, in fact, fentanyl in the children's systems. After the daycare was investigated, get this, a kilo, a freaking kilo of fentanyl was found

on top of the play mats that the children were sleeping on, as well as even more fentanyl, more narcotics, and more drug paraphernalia under trap doors in the room which those kids took a nap in. in the room which those kids took a nap in. Now to put things in perspective, experts say that even two milligrams is fatal to an adult. And to put that into even more perspective, one kilo is one million milligrams. Investigators were unsure if the children inhaled it or if they were just exposed to it over a period of time. It was reported that one child, a two-year-old boy, went home early that day, around 12.15 p.m., and his mother said that he was later on in the day acting lethargic and unresponsive. Luckily, his mother recognized his symptoms in time and was able to rush him to the hospital

where he was saved with that Narcan drug. Now, as all of this unfolded, police arrested two suspects on Sunday the 17th, Gray and 41-year-old Carlisto Avesito Brito. Carlisto was a cousin of Gray's husband, Felix Herrera Garcia, and he was renting a room from Gray for $200 a month. The reason that Carlisto was arrested in connection with the situation was because on top of the already two kilo presses that were found in a closet in the daycare, a third one was found in Carlisto's bedroom, which since it was an in-home daycare, was at the scene as well. Now, if you don't know what a kilopress is, it's a kilogram press device that is used to package large amounts of drugs. Gray and Carlisto were charged with 28 counts combined, which included

assault, manslaughter, and murder. Gray was denied bail at Bronx Criminal Court that following Sunday night, with Carlisto eventually also being denied bail. While police had two suspects detained, they were still missing one, Gray's husband Felix. Police thought of Felix to be the main player in the undercover drug dealing operation. And Felix was last seen on security footage entering the daycare facility empty-handed minutes before leaving the daycare through a rear exit, and he was holding what looked to be two filled plastic grocery bags, which police thought to be filled with fentanyl. Another red flag is that he didn't go out the front door. He went through the back, knowing that police were on their way.

At that point, nobody knew where Felix fled to. Now, Gray claimed to be innocent and in total shock and absolute despair over what had happened. Her lawyer, Andreas Manuel Arada, said, She's paying for someone else's crime, basically. You know, this lady doesn't fit the profile of a drug dealer. She has $100 in the bank, from what I understand. She was keeping down two jobs, not necessarily someone who's out there dealing with a kilo weight. She's distraught about what happened with the children, especially Nico. She feels that she is being held unjustly. Okay, insert eye roll here. This guy even went on to argue that her own child went to the daycare,

and had he not so happened to be out with a relative that day, he would have been exposed to the drugs. Like, let's just let that level set for a moment. Her own life looked to be pretty normal. Her social media accounts before her arrest showed her being a loving and devoted mother to her children, who all ranged in ages from 18 months to 20 years old. So yes, I guess on the surface, that is a pretty decent argument in favor of Gray, except Andreas was leaving out some very key information in his argument. According to local and federal law enforcement, Gray's son had been exposed to drugs the year prior without the police being called, and since then, he had stayed away from the daycare. Pretty coincidental, right? On top of that, before

Gray ever even called 911, she made several calls, including two to her husband, which is just so sick when you really think about it, because that means that she saw the children, unconscious, and instead of calling for help, she called her husband to cover her tracks. I mean, that time she spent calling people could have literally saved Nicholas's life. Not to mention, before Gray was forced to hand over her phone to authorities, she is suspected to have deleted over 21,000 messages between her and her husband dating back all the way to 2021. Now, we all know that even when you delete messages, forensics can recover them. So one of the since-deleted messages was to her husband, saying that police were asking questions about him, and Felix told

her to tell them that he was working and that she needed to find a lawyer. Now, I don't know about you, but that sure doesn't seem like someone who had no idea what was going on. So as the days went on, more came out about Gray, specifically about her first marriage. Nine years prior to the incident, Gray was living in the Dominican Republic and got together with Juan Ventura. They had met through a mutual friend. Juan's family claimed that Gray was a very bad person. They said that she had duped Juan into getting married in order for her to get a green card. Upon getting married and moving to New York City, Gray changed her personality completely. Instead of being a devoted wife like she had said she dreamed of becoming, she wanted to party, wanted to be promiscuous, which Juan apparently did not like one bit. The family said that she only met Juan's family twice and made no efforts,

and she made his life complete hell. So much so that Juan is apparently still in therapy today over it. The two ended up divorcing, and the whole family, including Juan, cut all ties with Gray. Now, I will let you be the judge of if Gray's previous marriage and the family's comments matter today with this new daycare incident. More details and information were coming out every day with this ongoing investigation and now the manhunt for Felix. On September 25th, a third arrest was made in the case, but it wasn't missing Felix. It was 38-year-old Rene Antonia Parraa Prideras. Rene's nickname was El Gallo, Spanish for the rooster. Rennie was charged with conspiracy to distribute narcotics

resulting in death. Authorities had previously found glass sign envelopes, which is similar to parchment paper in a bag form, with the same red stamp which said Red Dawn, and they found this at the daycare. While searching Rennie's apartment, police also found tools to prepare and distribute narcotics, such as tape, plastic bags, a grinder, and a digital scale. They also found two clear bags filled with grayish powder and a rectangle package that was filled with drugs. Now, it isn't super clear how they got Rennie's name in the first place, but prosecutors said that Rennie had been part of the undercover drug operation going on at Divino Nino daycare since July 2023, this according to a federal complaint. So a few days go by, and finally, a breakthrough happened when it came to the manhunt for Felix. The U.S. Marshal Service

received a tip that Felix was actually hiding out at the Mexican border in Texas. So on Sunday, September 24th, Felix was spotted in Texas crossing the southern border into Rosalia Monday the 25th. At that point, federal agents and Mexican cops were right behind Felix, having a very clear idea where he was heading. And after 10 days, Felix was finally found and arrested on Tuesday, September 26th, while on a bus heading to Culiacan. Culiacan is known for being where the most powerful drug cartel is in the entire world, which is the Sinaloa cartel. Felix was then put into custody in Sinaloa. It made sense to authorities that Felix would run away to the Sinaloa cartel. According to Ray Donovan, a retired chief of operations for the

Drug Enforcement Administration, he says, and I quote, that cartel is the largest producer, manufacturer, and a trafficker of fentanyl to the U.S. It tells me he was going there for protection. So it made sense for him to take a bus to lay under the radar and go directly into Culican to lay low for a period of time. Now, Felix didn't go through extradition in Mexico. Instead, he was expelled from the country and walked through the border into California, where he was then detained by Customs and Borders Protection. Felix is currently being charged with conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death. Now, like I said, this case is still very new and very ongoing. As of right now, Gray's daycare license is suspended, which I have a very, very

strong feeling it will never be renewed again, but who knows? I mean, I guess we've seen crazier things happen, but I sure as fuck hope not. Sorry for cussing. And all of them are being held without bail. If they are convicted, the four suspects could face a minimum of 20 years or up to life in prison. But sadly, poor Nicholas didn't stand a chance with the neglect and the carelessness going on at Divino Nino daycare that day. It is beyond frustrating to think that Gray spent an unknown amount of time trying to cover up the situation on the phone with her husband and other unknown people, all while Nicholas and the other children were showing clear signs of an overdose. That time she spent literally meant life and death. Luckily,

the other children appeared to have made a safe recovery. But what do you guys think? Do you think Gray is as innocent as her lawyer is trying to make her out to be? And what do you think the proper punishment should be for this case? I know fentanyl-related deaths are on the rise, but honestly, I have to say, the last place I ever thought I would hear of that happening is a daycare. Daycares are where you entrust people to take care of your children. You think it is a safe environment. You never think that they are hiding, harboring, and smuggling and trafficking fentanyl, all while it's under where your children are asleep. While there are still a lot of questions surrounding this case, let's just hope

that whenever all of this officially goes to trial, that justice is properly served for Nicholas and the other helpless victims. Like I said, so many of you have been requesting this case, which is why I wanted to jump on here and give you all of the details and all of the information I know. It's really unfortunate because YouTube is very, very finicky and censors things when it comes to drugs, especially fentanyl. So this video and this version of this episode is getting flagged left and right over there, but I still thought it was important. So here it is on the audio version. I hope you guys appreciated the content and the coverage. Please, if you are listening on the podcast, don't forget to take 30, 30 seconds. I really would appreciate it

if you would quickly rate the podcast and also leave a review. It really helps the algorithm. It helps push it out to more people. And at the end of the day, our goal is to create and generate so much more awareness for these cases and these victims. So it really does help. So please do that if you are so inclined and so loving to do so. And other than that, I will see you guys bright and early on Thursday for headline highlights where we're talking through all of the updates in true crime cases that have happened this week, as well as brand new cases that have emerged. All right, guys, thanks so much. It is your true crime bestie signing off. Take care. Bye. Thank you.