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Felix Herrera-Garcia previously pleaded guilty to drug charges
and causing bodily harm after the death of Nicholas Dominici,
who ingested fentanyl at the Divino Niño daycare in September
2023. Nicholas was 22 months old when he died. Three other
children exposed to the fentanyl survived after medics
administered the overdose-reversing drug Narcan.
Herrera-Garcia, who fled the U.S. after the overdoses and was on
the run in Mexico for about two weeks before he was arrested,
admitted that he had stored fentanyl beneath the floor in the
daycare’s playroom, according to prosecutors.
Given a chance to speak before the sentence was announced, he
hoped that the families of the children can one day forgive him.
He said he and his child had played with the children. He also
said that he tried to save two of the children and did not flee
until an ambulance arrived.
“At night, I have nightmares about what happened that day,” he
said.
Judge Jed S. Rakoff rejected a request by prosecutors that
Herrera-Garcia get life in prison because the death was not
premeditated murder but was more akin to manslaughter in which a
depraved indifference to human life is shown.
Still, the judge said, “This is so far removed from everyday
manslaughter.”
The defense had requested the mandatory minimum 20-year prison
term.
Herrera-Garcia’s wife, who authorities said operated of the
daycare, along with one other person, were charged separately
with murder, narcotics possession, and assault. Their cases are
pending.
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