A child has found sewing needles planted inside Halloween candy he was given while out trick-or-treating in Ohio . Police said that ...
A child has found sewing needles planted inside Halloween candy he was given while out trick-or-treating in Ohio.
Police said that they are 'appalled' by the tampered chocolate bars which appeared neatly sealed in their wrappers with the sharp end of a a needle poking out.
The child was given the candy by someone in the city of Fistoria, around 40 miles south of Toledo, while trick-or-treating on Saturday night.
'Although we only are aware of two pieces of candy being involved, we take this seriously and are appalled that anyone would be so demented as to want to hurt children in our community,' Chief Keith Loreno said in a written statement.
The police department released a photo showing the candy bar cut open to reveal a needle carefully embedded inside. The child was given the candy by someone in the city of Fistoria, around 40 miles south of Toledo, while trick-or-treating on Saturday night.
Pictures released by the police department showed one of the pieces of candy, a Kit Kat bar, with a needle coming out of one end
Pictures released by the police department showed one of the pieces of candy, a Kit Kat bar, with a needle coming out of one end of its wrapper.
A second image showed the bar cut open with the needle embedded inside.
The child received it somewhere in the area of North Union, Summit and Rock streets, but cops have been unable to pinpoint from where exactly the malicious gift was given.
'We've all heard of these types of things happening, but to actually have someone do this in our community is truly disturbing,' the police said on Facebook.
The department urged any parents who took their children trick-or-treating in the area to take candy to the ProMedica Fostoria Community Hospital where X-rays would be carried out.
Despite the concerning events, University of Delaware professor Joel Best, who has been tracking tampered Halloween candy since 1958, told CNN it is rare.
'I can find no evidence that any child has ever been killed or seriously injured by a contaminated treat picked up in the course of trick-or-treating,' Best said.
'While reports of contaminated treats do occur, I know of only two efforts to try and investigate reports of contaminated treats; both concluded that most were hoaxes.'
Last week, two people in British Columbia, Canada, were charged after an investigation found two children had been given treats laced with cannabis on Halloween last year.
Police at the time were unable to find the home where the candy came from but an officer noted a distinctive cartoon on the packaging.
The policeman recalled the logo when investigating another case and the pair were busted after a raid on an illegal cannabis edibles lab which was filled with packaging and labelling which matched.
Delta Police Insp. Guy Leeson said: 'Fortunately last year the parent spotted the suspicious candy before anything was consumed and we had no other similar complaints related to trick or treating.'
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