A 5-year-old boy in Ohio reportedly tested positive for methamphetamine exposure after trick-or-treating on Sunday.
The boy was staying with his father after trick-or-treating in Galion when he became ill, 10TV reports. Julia Pence, the boy’s mother, told CNN that she was told her son had a seizure, and immediately went to the hospital where he was being treated. She said the boy was “disoriented” and “real high from whatever he ingested” when she got there.
“He was really wired and kind of aggressive, had different mood swings,” Pence told CNN. “When we came home he was real tired, he was coming down from it.”
Staff at Galion Community Hospital told police that the boy tested positive for methamphetamine, Mansfield News Journal reports. According to a police report, the boy’s father said he had only eaten a couple pieces of candy and had put a pair of plastic vampire teeth in his mouth, the News Journal reports; CNN and 10TV, however, report that the boy had only put the fake teeth in his mouth. Both leftover candy and the fake teeth were taken in for testing, according to the News Journal.
Both of the boy’s parents have had substance abuse issues in the past, but Pence told 10TV that both are now clean and were not responsible for the meth exposure.
The Galion Police Department confirmed in a statement that a young boy become sick after trick-or-treating on Sunday, and said in a separate statement that it was investigating “whether there was some candy given out in Galion that may have been ‘laced’ with something.” Officials also warned parents to check all candy, as well as “non-candy items such as rings, bracelets, necklaces or fake teeth” for signs of tampering.
TIME could not immediately reach Galion Police for additional details on the investigation, but the police statement said the boy is expected to make a full recovery. Officials told CNN that no other illnesses have been reported, and that the boy’s case is an “oddity.”
“This does not happen often,” Galion Police Chief Brian Saterfield told CNN. “I think parents should always be concerned, looking at the candy. Look for anything that looks out of place, if the candy bag is open or ripped, throw it away.”
