Man gave out candy that may have contained marijuana to trick-or-treaters in South Chicago Heights, police say
SOUTH CHICAGO HEIGHTS, Ill. (CBS) --A man stood charged with child endangerment Tuesday after police said he gave out candy bags that may have once contained marijuana to trick-or-treaters.
As CBS 2's Charlie De Mar reported, the investigation in the southern suburbs is far from over.
Police in South Chicago Heights don't believe any kids have ingested the gummies inside the suspicious packaging. But they believe there could be at least 20 bags that were handed out during trick-or-treating Monday night, and they are asking parents to take another look at their kids' candy.
Police said an alert parent and grandparent had flagged the yellow gummy bears on Halloween Monday.
"My grandson and my daughter mentioned, 'We think we got bad candy,'" said Jose Villarreal.
Villarreal said his kids and grandkids collected bags of nasty tricks while trick-or-treating Monday from one house on Cherry Lane.
"Right away, it gave an odor," Villareal said. "We put our cellphone flashlight up to it, and you could see flakes of, I imagine, marijuana."
Jarod Feilen was charged with five counts of child endangerment, according to South Chicago Heights police Chief Bill Joyce.
"He did admit that he put gummy bears in those packages," Joyce said.
Chief Joyce said Feilen told investigators that he ran out of pre-packaged candy — so he put gummy bears inside cannabis packaging that he purchased legally from a dispensary.
"He did something a little bit outrageous, and it wasn't the smartest thing to do," Joyce said.
We wanted to ask Feilen about it, but no one came to the door Tuesday night.
Another parent who went trick-or-treating in South Chicago heights posted on Facebook that she believes her kids were handed THC from the same house.
If you took your kids to trick or treat in south Chicago heights check candy ! My kids where given thc edibles 😒
Posted by Anailuj Ovi on Monday, October 31, 2022
The picture of the gummies she shared looks identical to the package Villarreal's family received.
"Is omeone trying to harm my children, my family, children in general?" Villareal said. "It's not right. It's not right at all."
The candy is also being tested for marijuana, and charges could be elevated, Joyce said.
Anyone with children who went trick-or-treating on Cherry Lane in South Chicago Heights is asked to look out for packets of yellow gummy bears with no branding or print, in clear shrink film over silver foil with a black back panel.
Any parents who do find such packages should give them to police and should not open them.
Police said they are not aware of any children ingesting the gummy bears.
Anyone who received such packages of candy is asked to call South Chicago Heights police at (708) 755-3520 and ask for Chief Joyce or for Sgt. Joyce.