2 Teens Charged In Laced Gummy Case at Boca Ciega High

GULFPORT, FL — Details are beginning to emerge in an incident that sent five Boca Ciega High School students to the hospital on Monday.

According to the Gulfport Police Department, a student brought gummy worms to school that were laced with what field tested positive for marijuana. That student gave gummies to two others, who distributed them to four other kids, the police department wrote in an email to media.

The investigation into the incident kicked off when several students who ate the gummies went to the school’s clinic “complaining of being ill after eating laced gummy worms,” the email said. “An investigation in to the matter revealed that five students consumed edible gummy worms that smelled strongly of marijuana and had a high oily content, consistent with marijuana oil.”

The police department said all five students who ate the worms ultimately ended up in the hospital. Four were taken by ambulance. All five had been released from the hospital by Tuesday morning.

“Apparently the students that consumed the laced gummies were aware that they would receive a "high" from ingesting them,” the email said. “One gummy worm was confiscated by the school resource officers and it tested positive for marijuana during a field presumptive test.”

The confiscated gummy has been sent to a lab for further testing, the police department noted.

All told, seven students were involved.

Two students, girls ages 14 and 15, both of St. Petersburg, have been charged with a second-degree felony for delivering a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school. A third arrest is pending, the police department said Tuesday afternoon.

"Only three students will be charged criminally as they were the only ones involved with 'delivery' of a controlled substance," a Tuesday afternoon email from the police department said. "The other students will have school consequences."

Patch is not releasing the names of those arrested due to their ages.

Image via Shutterstock

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