For the second time in less than two weeks, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) encounters deadly danger at a state-licensed daycare center in the Big Apple. Only this Wednesday’s discovery was not accompanied by a child victim, but it does reveal the dimensions of another calamity: The homemade manufacture of ghost weapons.
In addition, it makes it clear to municipal authorities that legislation must be refined to raise the level of scrutiny of inspections to nearly 7,000 child care centers that operate in the city.
“We just want to tell the parents, who leave their children every day at these centers, that we are going to remain vigilant. “We are going to change the rules, to get ahead of the bad people who are doing bad things, in the environments where our children are,” announced Mayor Eric Adams.
What was known until this Thursday is that allegedly an 18-year-old young man, Karon J. Coley, who lives in the apartment with his mother, where Alay’s Day Care operates, was dedicated to making ghost weapons in the same space. .
At that site, they found a 3D printer, plastic filaments, two finished 3D printed firearms, a nearly finished 3D printed assault pistol. And tools for making weapons.
This child care center, licensed to care for up to 12 children ranging in age from 6 weeks to 12 years, as well as four additional school-aged children, is located in an apartment on the fifth floor of a building on 117th Street in Harlem.
Learned lessons
This new raid, with disturbing results, comes after on September 15, a one-year-old Dominican boy died of suspected fentanyl poisoning, in an apartment in the Bronx, where the Divino Niño daycare operated. There they discovered kilos of the powerful drug and items linked to its processing.
These two events, without any type of link, put on the table the destructive power that fentanyl and domestically assembled weapons are having on the streets of New York.
Another lesson learned by municipal authorities, in the face of these terrible findings in child care centers, is that an educational component must be created for New York families, because many parents are not familiar with the devices that are used to make weapons or to process narcotics, drugs or opioids.
“We need to expand our action and support parents in the face of this reality, which is a risk for everyone,” said the mayor.
had passed inspections
According to inspection data, this East Harlem daycare where equipment for the manufacture of ghost weapons was found, opened in February 2021 under a license from the State Office of Children and Family Services, which would be valid until February of 2025.
Under New York State rules, all household members over the age of 18 who live in a home where this type of child care program operates must undergo a criminal background check.
In this sense, spokespersons for the New York City Department of Health (DOHMH) confirmed to local media that all members of the residence had passed all inspections last year.
For her part, Christina Chang, Deputy Commissioner of the DOHMH, revealed that the last evaluation carried out on the site was in February 2023.
“They did find three violations, which were related to documentation of the children’s eating and sleeping schedules and preferences. As well as with verification by doctors that the children did not have any infectious disease. These problems were cited to them, corrective measures were taken and it was verified that they complied with the standards,” he reported.
Currently all daycare centers of this type that operate in the Big Apple have to undergo an initial inspection before they can open. Aspects such as fire escapes, window protectors are analyzed, and medicines and cleaning products are ensured that they are locked up and out of the reach of children.
Annual reviews are then carried out after your initial license. Some of them are announced and others are surprises.
Homemade weapons, but lethal
Likewise, NYPD Commissioner Edward Cabán insisted that this seizure inside a location where a ‘day care’ operates, sends signals about a trend that involves the so-called Polymer P80 pistols, popularly known as ghost guns.
These plastic weapons have been appearing more and more, demanding the attention of law enforcement.
“3D printed guns are among the easiest ways to obtain a weapon. They can be done at home, anonymously and are cheap. They cost a fraction of the price of a traditional revolver or pistol, or even a P80 firearm. 3D printed weapons have online forums dedicated to explaining how they work. And as these arrests show, the devices have captured the attention of our children,” highlighted the top police chief.
This “hit” occurred precisely in a residence, where a daycare center operated, began when police sleuths followed the trail of a group of people, including some minors, who buy ghost weapon parts from online retailers, as well as materials and filaments necessary to print components of these detonation equipment in 3D.
Some of the purchases were made through fraudulent means, including alleged identity theft of multiple victims across the United States.
When manufactured well, these 3D printed weapons function just like conventional ones. In the hands of teenagers, they can inflict the same violence.
During the analysis of evidence recovered during search warrants at this child care center, NYPD investigators determined that a young man identified as 18-year-old Karon Coley was also involved in 3D printing firearms.
In connection with this same event, two minors were arrested. Apparently they were released.
For her part, April Coley, operator of this residential daycare in East Harlem, told local media “that she had no idea that her son was under investigation for allegedly running an illegal ghost gun operation from his room. The daycare area, was not located where these items were found,” she said.
Federal charges for daycare case in the Bronx
But this Thursday, while investigations into the manufacture of ghost weapons in a child care home were just taking off, progress was confirmed in the other episode that shook the city in recent weeks.
It was reported that Félix Herrera, 38, husband of the owner of a daycare center in The Bronx, where fentanyl was found, was formally charged with federal crimes for his responsibility in the death of a one-year-old baby due to his intoxication with the powerful narcotic.
The Dominican was charged with conspiracy to distribute drugs while being flown from Mexico to California for an extradition hearing.
Herrera was detained on a bus by Mexican authorities after 10 days on the run.
“He fled the daycare even knowing that the children he abandoned inside were suffering because of his poisonous trade,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement announcing the charges.
This is the fourth detainee, for this tragic event that began on the afternoon of Friday, September 15. The first arrested, the day after the baby’s death, were Grei Méndez and Carlisto Acevedo Brito, Herrera’s wife and cousin.
Days later, Renny Antonio Parra Paredes, alias “El Gallo,” was arrested, accused of conspiracy to distribute narcotics resulting in death.