(NEW YORK) — The husband of the owner of a New York City day care where a 1-year-old boy died following fentanyl exposure has been arrested, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
Felix Herrera Garcia was arrested in Mexico, on a bus in Sinaloa, after a manhunt that lasted more than a week, the sources said.
He was allegedly seen in surveillance images running out of the Bronx day care with heavy shopping bags as the children were suffering from fentanyl exposure, according to court records.
On Sept. 15, Nicholas Dominici, a 1-year-old, died following exposure to fentanyl at the day care.
Three other children, ranging in age from 8 months to 2 years, were hospitalized and treated with Narcan, police said. An analysis of urine from one of the victims confirmed the presence of fentanyl, officials said.
Investigators found a kilo of fentanyl stored on kids’ play mats at the day care, along with a device to press drugs into bricks for sale, according to court records. In a trap floor under the day care’s play area, investigators found fentanyl, other narcotics and drug paraphernalia, police said.
The first two to be arrested were day care owner Grei Mendez, who is Garcia’s wife, and Carlisto Acevedo Brito, who is Garcia’s cousin and Mendez’s tenant. They face federal charges of narcotics possession with intent to distribute resulting in death and conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death as well as state charges including murder.
Federal authorities last week promised to hold accountable anyone linked to the day care.
This weekend, a third person, Renny Antonio Parra Paredes, was arrested. He was charged in federal court with conspiracy to distribute narcotics.
(HOUSTON) — A federal judge has issued a permanent injunction against a Texas bill that restricted “sexually oriented performances” and has been criticized for limiting public drag performances in the state.
U.S. District Judge David Hittner said the law is an “unconstitutional restriction on speech” and “violates the First Amendment as incorporated to Texas by the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution.”
A similar law in Tennessee, the first state to restrict drag performances in public, was also blocked and ruled unconstitutional.
The law was set to go into effect on Friday, Sept. 1, but a preliminary injunction halted its enforcement.
“LGBTQIA+ Texans, venue owners, performers, and our allies all came together to uphold free expression in our state — and we won,” the ACLU of Texas said in a social media post. “This work isn’t done but for now we celebrate. Long live Texas drag!”
The Texas law doesn’t specifically mention drag shows, but Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said the bill would prohibit “sexualized performances and drag shows in the presence of a minor.”
The ACLU of Texas represented local LGBTQ groups, businesses and a performer in a lawsuit against state officials.
The “exhibition or representation, actual or simulated, of male or female genitals in a lewd state” as well as “the exhibition of sexual gesticulations using accessories or prosthetics that exaggerate male or female sexual characteristics” would have been restricted under the law.
Performances would be restricted from public properties or in the presence of someone under the age of 18.
Under the law, businesses would have faced a $10,000 fine for hosting such a performance. Performers could be charged with a Class A misdemeanor, which is punishable by up to one year in jail and/or a fine of $4,000.
Critics of the bill said traveling Broadway plays, theater performances, professional cheerleading routines and drag shows would have been impacted.
(BALTIMORE) — A homicide investigation is underway after the 26-year-old founder of a tech company was found dead with “blunt-force trauma wounds” in a Baltimore apartment building, police said.
Police found Pava LaPere dead after responding to a call for service midday Monday at an apartment complex in the 300 block of West Franklin Street, the Baltimore Police Department said in a statement.
A missing person’s call had been made prior to the discovery, police said.
Homicide detectives are investigating. There are no updates on suspects or arrests in the case, a Baltimore police spokesperson said Tuesday.
Police identified the victim on Tuesday as LaPere, who was the CEO and founder of EcoMap Technologies.
“With profound sadness and shock, EcoMap announces the tragic and untimely passing of our beloved Founder and CEO, Pava LaPere,” EcoMap said in a statement Tuesday. “The circumstances surrounding Pava’s death are deeply distressing, and our deepest condolences are with her family, friends, and loved ones during this incredibly devastating time.”
The Baltimore-based company said LaPere was a “visionary force” behind the startup as well as a “deeply compassionate and dedicated leader.”
EcoMap said it will share more details on how it plans to honor her memory in the coming days.
Last month, EcoMap raised $3.5 million in seed funding, bringing the total raised by the company to nearly $8 million, the company said in a press release.
The company builds platforms to help people navigate business communities, industries and institutional networks. Its tools are used by more than 65 organizations, including Venture for America, the Aspen Institute, T.Rowe Price and the state of Indiana, it said.
The Johns Hopkins University graduate was profiled in Forbes 30 Under 30 this year.
Luiz C. Ribeiro for NY Daily News via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams is narrowing the timeline in which migrants can stay in city-run facilities as he takes the battle over the state’s “right-to-shelter” laws to court.
More than 60,000 migrants are in the city’s care, according to city officials, as Texas officials continue sending busloads of migrants from the border to Democrat-led cities in a move that New York Mayor Eric Adams has called a “political stunt” and “dehumanizing” for migrants seeking asylum.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the busing brings attention to the migrant crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.
What do the ‘right-to-shelter’ laws entail?
The New York State Constitution states that “the aid, care and support of the needy are public concerns and shall be provided by the state and by such of its subdivisions, and in such manner and by such means, as the legislature may from time to time determine.”
In 1979, the Coalition for the Homeless sued state and city officials on behalf of homeless men in New York City in the court case Callahan v. Carey, arguing that a right to shelter for the homeless existed under the New York State Constitution.
That lawsuit led to a 1981 consent decree. The consent decree required that the city and state provide temporary emergency shelter to anybody who “meets the need standard to qualify for the home relief program established in New York State,” or “by reason to physical, mental or social dysfunction, is in need of temporary shelter.”
The right to shelter was extended to homeless women by Eldredge v. Koch in 1983 and to homeless families with children by McCain v. Koch in 1983, according to the Coalition for the Homeless.
How does this impact the ongoing migrant crisis?
The city requested in May that the language of the decree be changed to allow the city to forgo its obligation if it lacks “the resources and capacity to establish and maintain sufficient shelter sites, staffing, and security to provide safe and appropriate shelter,” according to court filings.
In housing tens of migrants who lack basic resources, the city argues that it is “facing an unprecedented demand on its shelter capacity,” and that these challenges could never have been “contemplated, foreseeable, or indeed even remotely imagined” when the consent decree was originally agreed upon.
The mayor has already begun to limit the extent of the city’s right to shelter obligations.
All asylum seekers arriving for the first time will now receive a 30-day period to find alternate housing outside of a city-run facility, supported by “intensified casework services” to “discuss their options and plan their next steps,” according to Adams’ office.
Adult asylum seekers were previously given 60-day notices to find alternate housing. Those who have not yet secured housing under the 60-day notice and seek to reapply for shelter will be given an additional 30 days with intensified casework services under Adams’ plan.
“For over a year, New York City has stepped up while waiting for the substantial help necessary from federal and state partners to comprehensively address this crisis and support the tens of thousands of asylum seekers in our care, and today’s announcement is another step in our efforts to help asylum seekers take the next step in their journeys,” said Adams on Friday when he announced the new restrictions.
He continued, “With more than 60,000 asylum seekers still in our care and without additional help, we will be forced to continue making difficult decisions.”
The city said it has opened 210 emergency shelters, including 17 total large-scale humanitarian relief centers, to take care of the influx of migrants.
Critics say the move is unnecessary after the federal government announced that it would be expanding Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans and expanding resources to job opportunities to transition people from shelters. Housing advocates also assert that an end to the right to shelter policies for migrants will spur a surge in homelessness.
“Any policy limiting the amount of time that our clients can reside in shelter is arbitrary and devoid of compassion,” the Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless said in a joint statement. The two organizations are fighting the city’s attempts to restrict the right to shelter.
It continued, “Pushing new arrivals who have nowhere else to turn out of the shelters risks dramatically increasing the number of people bedding down on the streets, something nobody wants to see happen.”
City officials and right-to-shelter advocates will return to court Tuesday to continue discussions.
(REEMS CREEK, N.C.) — A woman who was hiking through Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina this weekend fell 150 feet from an overlook to her death, park officials said.
Nancy Sampson, 61, of Greer, South Carolina, reportedly fell off a steep cliff at the Glassmine Falls Overlook around noon Saturday, according to the National Parks Service.
NPS Law Enforcement Rangers and first responders from Reems Creek Fire Department quickly responded to the scene and found Sampson fell 150 feet below the overlook and had succumbed to her injuries, the NPS said.
The fire department members rappelled from the top of the overlook to the site where Sampson’s body was discovered, the Reems Creek Fire Department said.
Authorities said it hasn’t been determined yet how Sampson fell off the overlook and police are investigating.
The overlook is one of the park’s main attractions and is at an elevation of 5,200 feet, according to the NPS.
Park visitors come to the overlook to view the Glassmine Falls, a skinny waterfall that only flows during rainy weather, the NPS said.
(NEW YORK) — A judge dismissed the case against a former Philadelphia police officer who had been charged with murder in connection to the death of Eddie Irizarry.
Mark Dial had been charged earlier this month with murder, voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, possessing an instrument of crime, simple assault, reckless endangerment of another person and official oppression, in the Aug. 14 shooting.
Judge Wendy Pew dismissed the case during a preliminary hearing on Tuesday, citing lack of evidence, court records show.
Originally, police had said that Irizarry, 27, was outside the car and was killed after lunging at police with a knife, but two days later the department acknowledged that he was shot while inside his car.
In announcing the charges, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner released footage from the body-worn cameras of Dial and a second officer who was at the scene, warning the video “will in some ways be traumatic.”
The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office said it “disagrees” with the judge’s decision.
“In keeping with our oath to seek justice, we will move to have all criminal charges, including Murder, reinstated against this defendant,” the office said in a statement following the hearing.
The office has since refiled the criminal complaint against Dial on all charges. The Court of Common Pleas has scheduled a hearing on the motion for Oct. 25.
The footage shows Dial getting out of his cruiser and approaching Irizarry’s car with his gun drawn. “I will f—— shoot you,” he says, before firing into the front driver’s seat where Irizarry was seated. Prior to shots being fired, an officer can be heard yelling at Irizarry to show his hands.
Dial fired six shots “at close range,” Krasner said.
Brian McMonagle, one of Dial’s attorneys, said they were “elated” at the judge’s decision and said the officer was acting in self-defense.
“We have said from the very beginning, this is a tragedy and not a crime,” he told reporters while leaving the courthouse on Tuesday.
McMonagle said evidence presented in court Tuesday — including testimony from Dial’s partner at the scene of the shooting — showed that the officers believed Irizarry raised what appeared to be a gun and “pointed it” at them. The officers later determined the object to be a knife, McMonagle said.
“Before there was a discharge in this case, the other officer shouted gun, and my officer thought what he clearly believed to be a gun before he fired,” McMonagle said. “There’s no doubt about the fact that he believed it was a gun.”
McMonagle had previously called the murder charge “abhorrent.”
“The undisputed facts of the case are that an individual made an illegal turn right in front of police officers, took off at a high rate of speed, and then tried to evade officers by going down a one-way street the wrong way, tried to hide from them,” McMonagle told reporters earlier this month.
“And when police officers ordered him to show his hands, he instead produced a weapon and pointed it at an armed police officer,” he continued.
Dial was initially released on $50,000 bail on Sept. 8, though his bail was revoked after prosecutors argued he was not eligible with a potential first-degree murder charge on the table.
The city’s police commissioner at the time, Danielle Outlaw, said on Aug. 23 that Dial would be terminated at the end of a 30-day suspension.
Outlaw, who has since left the department, said at the time that an administrative investigation found Dial violated department rules against “insubordination” by allegedly refusing to obey “proper orders from a superior officer.” She said the administrative investigation also accuses Dial of “conduct unbecoming” an officer for “failure to cooperate in any departmental investigation.”
Philadelphia Jim Kenney said in a statement Tuesday that he trusts the district attorney’s office “will do everything in its power to pursue justice and accountability.”
“My thoughts are with Eddie Irizarry’s family and loved ones today as they continue to seek justice and answers around his death,” he said, adding he remains confident that the police department’s Internal Affairs Bureau’s investigation into the shooting “will provide accountability and transparency following the police-involved shooting that took Mr. Irizzary’s life.”
(NEW YORK) — A judge dismissed the case against a former Philadelphia police officer who had been charged with murder in connection to the death of Eddie Irizarry, according to Philadelphia ABC station WPVI.
Mark Dial had been charged earlier this month with murder, voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment of another person and official oppression, in the Aug. 14 shooting.
Judge Wendy Pew dismissed the case during a preliminary hearing on Tuesday, citing lack of evidence, WPVI reported.
Originally, police had said that Irizarry, 27, was outside the car and was killed after lunging at police with a knife, but two days later the department acknowledged that he was shot while inside his car.
In announcing the charges, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner released footage from the body-worn cameras of Dial and a second officer who was at the scene, warning the video “will in some ways be traumatic.”
The district attorney’s office said it plans to file an appeal on Tuesday, saying in a statement it “disagrees” with the judge’s decision.
“In keeping with our oath to seek justice, we will move to have all criminal charges, including Murder, reinstated against this defendant,” the statement said.
The footage shows Dial getting out of his cruiser and approaching Irizarry’s car with his gun drawn. “I will f—— shoot you,” he says, before firing into the front driver’s seat where Irizarry was seated. Prior to shots being fired, an officer can be heard yelling at Irizarry to show his hands.
Dial fired six shots “at close range,” Krasner said.
Brian McMonagle, one of Dial’s attorneys, called the murder charge “abhorrent.”
“The undisputed facts of the case are that an individual made an illegal turn right in front of police officers, took off at a high rate of speed, and then tried to evade officers by going down a one-way street the wrong way, tried to hide from them,” McMonagle told reporters earlier this month.
“And when police officers ordered him to show his hands, he instead produced a weapon and pointed it at an armed police officer,” he continued.
The city’s police commissioner at the time, Danielle Outlaw, said on Aug. 23 that Dial would be terminated at the end of a 30-day suspension.
Outlaw, who has since left the department, said at the time that an administrative investigation found Dial violated department rules against “insubordination” by allegedly refusing to obey “proper orders from a superior officer.” She said the administrative investigation also accuses Dial of “conduct unbecoming” an officer for “failure to cooperate in any departmental investigation.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(COLUMBIA, S.C.) — The Columbia, South Carolina, community is reeling in the wake of a shooting allegedly carried out by three teenagers that killed three teens and injured a fourth.
Two 17-year-old boys and a 14-year-old boy have been arrested for three counts of murder, attempted murder, possession of a weapon during a violent crime and possession of handgun under the age of 18, Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said Tuesday.
Sunday afternoon’s shooting apparently stemmed from a previous dispute. Lott called it a fight “over something stupid” from a couple years ago.
The slain children have been identified as 16-year-old Jakobe Fanning, 17-year-old Dre’Von Riley and 16-year-old Caleb Wise, the sheriff’s office said.
The injured teenager, a 14-year-old, has since been released from the hospital, Lott said.
At a Monday news conference, the sheriff was among officials decrying the violence plaguing their community.
“Three kids are dead,” Lott said. “If that doesn’t shock you, then something’s wrong. So we gotta do something. … Now is time for action.”
“Here we are once again,” Richland County Councilwoman Gretchen Barron said.
“Young people got guns and they make poor choices. Now it’s left up to us as a community,” she said.
The sheriff did not say where the gun used in the shooting was obtained, but he said local teenagers are stealing guns from cars. He said 100 cars were broken into this weekend.
Additional security was on campus Monday at Columbia’s Eau Claire High School, where the three slain teenagers and at least one of the suspects were students, according to the sheriff and the superintendent.
“The Richland One family is grieving the loss of three young lives to senseless gun violence,” Superintendent Craig Witherspoon said in a statement. “This is an unimaginable tragedy, and we ask everyone to keep the students’ families and the students and staff at Eau Claire High School in your thoughts and prayers.”
(NEW YORK) — JPMorgan Chase will pay $75 million in a settlement involving the late disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Epstein was found dead in his cell at New York City’s Metropolitan Correctional Center in 2019, where he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Virgin Islands officials said the bank should have known about Epstein’s human trafficking, and that the investigation it conducted into the matter yielded significant information about the bank’s dealings with Epstein.
In its settlement with the Virgin Islands, JPMorgan Chase will contribute $30 million to organizations whose work is aimed at fighting human tracking, and contribute $25.5 million to “enhance” law enforcement infrastructure related to human trafficking. The remaining funds will cover USVI attorneys’ fees.
“JPMorgan Chase believes this settlement is in the best interest of all parties, particularly those who can benefit from efforts to combat human trafficking and for survivors who suffer unimaginable abuse at the hands of these criminals,” the company said in a statement.
The settlement does not involve admissions of liability on JPMorgan’s part, although the company said it “deeply regrets” any association with Epstein.
Another agreement was reached with former JPMorgan Chase executive James Staley, the details of which are confidential.
(NEW YORK) — For mom Brooke King, keeping an eye on her toddler can be challenging.
As a result, she has turned to Apple’s AirTag smart devices for some peace of mind and to help her keep track of her 3-year-old daughter, who is still too young for a cellphone.
“I always find myself running after her quickly … I didn’t want to teach her that if she ran off, I would just run after her and it was OK to continue this behavior,” King explained to “Good Morning America.”
In crowded areas, King has her daughter Kella wear the AirTag in the form of a bracelet. If they were to get separated, King can then check her iPhone and see Kella’s exact location.
“It does help me feel more in control of the situation. As a parent, my top priority is her safety in addition to her ability to have some independence,” King said.
After an AirTag is connected to an iPhone, whenever they’re brought near each other, the iPhone will recognize it. AirTags can also be given custom names. Apple told ABC News that the AirTags are meant to track items and not people and suggests customers can use the Apple Watch instead to stay on top of their children’s whereabouts because it has more robust safety features.
Parenting expert Ericka Souter told “GMA” that AirTags can be a good way to give young children independence and let parents look out for their kids at the same time.
“If you have little ones who may be walking to school alone for the first time or going to after school activities and you just want to make sure that they’re safe, [an AirTag might be a good idea],” Souter said. “Parents have a lot of safety concerns in this day and age.”
For older children, Souter said it’s important to build trust and boundaries, and using AirTags might not be the way to go.
“If you have a teenager who needs to go back and forth to school or hangs out with their friends or has a curfew, you have to eventually begin to trust them to follow the rules and be back home when they need to be back home,” Souter added. “So, for a lot of families, the teenage years are kind of a cut off for something like the AirTag monitoring their whereabouts.”
Apple sells individual AirTags for $29 but also offers them in pack of four for $99. Aside from pairing them with an Apple Watch, there are other options with the purpose of tracking children. Similar competitor products usually retail for about $100 and require a monthly fee for service.
