3rd suspect arrested over fentanyl death

A third person has been arrested in connection with the death of a 1-year-old boy at a New York City day care center after being exposed to fentanyl.

Renny Antonio Parra Paredes was arrested on Saturday. He appeared in federal court in Lower Manhattan on Monday, where he was charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death.

In a criminal complaint, Paredes, 38, and his alleged co-conspirators, Grei Mendez and Carlisto Acevedo Brito, were accused of using the day care center in the Bronx to secretly stash drugs — including a kilogram of fentanyl — on children's play mats.

Authorities told ABC News that the husband of the day care center owner, Felix Herrera Garcia, was arrested on Tuesday while on a bus in Sinaloa, a state in northwestern Mexico.

Garcia had allegedly been seen on surveillance camera running away from the day care center with plastic bags that police said could have contained fentanyl, as the children were exposed to the drug.

Federal prosecutors said large quantities of the narcotic were stored under a trap floor in a room where the children slept, learned and played.

Otoniel Feliz, the grieving father of Nicholas Dominici, the 1-year-old who died, told PIX11 News: "Nothing will give me back our son. Not all the gold in the world will make up for his life. For a parent, the life of a child is priceless."

Three other children who attended the day care, an 8-month-old girl and two 2-year-old boys, were taken to a hospital and treated with naloxone, or its trade name Narcan, an overdose-reversal drug. The children had suffered acute opioid intoxication.

It has not been confirmed if naloxone was found inside the day care. Administered through nasal mist, it quickly combats the effects of drugs like fentanyl, heroin and oxycodone by blocking brain receptors that respond to drugs.

Since March, Narcan has been available for purchase over the counter, without a prescription, after it was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. A kit with two doses of Narcan can cost $140.

'National opioid crisis'

Several organizations, including the American Medical Association, the United Federation of Teachers and the National Association of School Nurses, believe that all schools should stock naloxone.

"We are facing a national opioid crisis, and it's affecting our young people at an alarming rate," Bobby Mukkamala, chair of the American Medical Association's substance use and pain care task force, said in a statement. "We must destigmatize substance-use disorders and treat naloxone as a lifesaving tool."

Since 2016, the National Association of School Nurses has advocated the stocking of naloxone by schools. The association provides a free tool kit on its website for teachers on how to use the drug.

In 2017, Michigan became the first state to pass a law to allow naloxone in schools.

Thirty states allow for naloxone to be used in K-12 schools, data from the Legislative Analysis and Public Policy Association shows. Rhode Island is the only state that requires schools to keep naloxone in stock.

The increased use of naloxone comes as 518 teenagers died from drug overdose every year from 2010 to 2019, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.

In 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of teens who died from drug overdose nearly doubled to 954. In 2021, the number rose to 1,146, according to research in the medical journal JAMA.

In 2021, fentanyl was involved in 80 percent of the 2,668 overdose deaths in New York City, according to the Health Department. At least 72 people aged 15 to 24 died from opioid use.