If a suspect was identified, he or she might likely face an assault charge, if it was a case of putting a needle in candy, Lt. Gilbert said.
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Investigators noted that it is unknown if the candy was tampered with by a local individual, or during a few other level of the distribution process.
Police have urged parents who live in the Chester County borough to check any candies their children received while trick-or-treating on Halloween night. “He initially bit into it because the caramel covered the needle”, the child’s mother, Ada Melendez said. “Fortunately, it didn’t prick him, but he was freaking out”. The pill had “4” written on it. She called the police, who are testing it. This isn’t the only investigation going on in South Jersey involving tampered Halloween candy. Sometimes they may actually know the house they got something at, especially if it’s a unique item or if several of their friends also got the same item.
In 2000, Joseph Smith of Minneapolis allegedly placed needles into Snickers bars before handing them out to children. “So we were really, really shocked”.
Police are looking into a report of tampering after an Austin mom says her son’s Halloween candy had a needle in it. An officer was dispatched to pick up the pin and the candy from Garwood’s Gloucester City home Sunday night.
“The child reported he had been trick-or-treating in the same general area as the other children”, police said.
It is possible, though, that parents are hearing about these incidents more due to social media, Best says. “That’s why I moved out of New York, to come to a nice area like Holly Springs, and I can’t believe it happened here”.
“I’ve lived here 35 years and I’ve never had a problem in this neighborhood”, said Ted Gasis, Woodbury Heights Resident.
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We really thought it was just something they said to keep up from staying out until all hours on Halloween and to keep us from eating so much candy. “There were a few reports of Twix as well”, Chief Herring said. That’s when I found out that something was wrong with the candy.
