Meth found in child’s Halloween candy in Northern California

A Northern California father sorting through his 8-year-old daughter’s Halloween candy on Monday found a small baggie containing methamphetamine, police said.

Now, police from Hercules, a town with a population of 23,000 just 25 miles northeast of San Francisco, are searching for the baggie’s distributor.

“This could have happened anywhere,” said Connie Van Putten, a Hercules reserve police officer and spokeswoman.

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FOR THE RECORD

2:11 p.m.: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that Hercules is 25 miles northeast of Sacramento.

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Police think the incident was isolated because they haven’t received any similar reports, but they are still urging parents to sift through their children’s leftover Halloween candy and look for possible drugs or sweets that have been tampered with.

After finding the small plastic baggie, the father called police who tested its contents and determined the child had been given meth, Van Putten said.

The father, she said, was concerned and upset.

While the baggie appeared to contain only a small amount of meth, it was enough to be a felony amount if found by police, Van Putten said.

Police are working with the father to pinpoint the source of the candy within a 10-block neighborhood known for its white picket fences and Victorian homes, she added.

Police also plan to obtain physical evidence from the package.

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