Owner of a daycare 1-year-old child dies from fentanyl poisoning and three other juveniles pleaded guilty to federal charges Tuesday, solving a case that horrified New York City and underscored the scourge of terrorism. the country’s fentanyl epidemic.

Grei Mendez pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death and serious bodily injury, one count of possession with intent to distribute a narcotic resulting in death and one count of possession with intent to distribute narcotics resulting in serious bodily injury. The three charges carry a minimum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Prosecutors said the children were poisoned because Mendez chose to run a large-scale fentanyl packaging and distribution facility out of the day care her husband and his accomplice operated out of a small apartment in the Bronx.

On the afternoon of Sept. 15, 2023, when 1-year-old Nicholas Dominici and another child became unresponsive, prosecutors said Mendez made a series of phone calls: first to the community center, which directed the children to day care, then to her husband, and then to 911.

Moments after Mendez called 911, but before emergency personnel arrived, prosecutors said her husband was seen on surveillance video running through the front door and then leaving the back of the building carrying two heavy bags.

Police said Nicholas died from fentanyl and three other children, ranging in age from 8 months to 2 years, were hospitalized and treated with Narcan.

Authorities said they found a one-kilogram brick of fentanyl at the daycare, a two-pound press machine and two hatches that revealed hidden compartments under the playroom’s floor tiles.

The indictment stated that the traps contained more than 11 kilograms of drugs, including fentanyl and heroin, as well as vehicles used in the branding, packaging, distribution and traffic of narcotics.

Federal prosecutors said they had security footage and a voicemail in which Mendez said running a day care was not his “job” to prove the facility was a front for a narcotics operation.

“Grei Mendez admitted to conspiring to possess and distribute large amounts of dangerously toxic fentanyl at the Bronx Day Care, a place where parents expected their children to be protected and safe,” said Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. He said in a statement on Tuesday.

“This case demonstrated the senseless collateral damage caused by the fentanyl epidemic and should serve as a reminder that the demand for illicit narcotics often puts innocent bystanders at risk as drug traffickers relentlessly pursue profit,” Williams added.

Earlier this month, Mendez’s husband, Felix Herrera Garcia, was sentenced to 45 years in prison. plead guilty to federal drug charges. The third co-conspirator also pleaded guilty.