Nicholas’s father, Otoniel Feliz, has said that he had no idea that a tenant was living there when he sent his son to the center. But Ms. Mendez, who wept during her most recent court appearance, has denied knowing that her licensed and recently inspected home business had become a stash house for a kilo of fentanyl and the accompanying paraphernalia. This was the second time in just a few weeks that a devastating loss proved to be the collateral damage of an informal leasing agreement. Last month, a 43-year-old woman named Zhao Zhao was killed in her apartment in Sunset Park in Brooklyn when a man went after her with a hammer, also injuring her two children, 3 and 5, who face a long recovery as they learn again how to walk. The apartment had three rooms; Ms. Zhao and her children occupied one, a single person lived in a second, and a 9-year-old boy took up the third with his father, who was charged in the killing.

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Persons: Otoniel, Carlisto Acevedo Brito, Mendez, Mendez’s, Acevedo Brito’s, Zhao Zhao, Zhao Organizations: Prosecutors Locations: Bronx, Sunset Park, Brooklyn