Mexican woman deported after 16 years for 2009 daycare fire that killed 49 children.

Sandra Lucia Tellez-Nieves, 51, was deported to Mexico on October 2, 2025, after being arrested in Tucson, Arizona, on January 15, 2025, during a traffic stop. She was wanted for her role in a 2009 daycare fire in Hermosillo that killed 49 children and injured about 100 others. Tellez-Nieves, a co-owner of ABC Daycare, faced charges of negligent homicide and injury. A warrant, initially issued in 2009 and later reissued in 2022, led to her arrest by ICE and the U.S. Marshals Service. Her co-defendant, Robert Copado-Gutierrez, was arrested in March 2025 and remains in custody awaiting deportation.