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By Emma Marsden
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Around 15 children, including toddlers as young as one, were given psychedelic gummies while trick-or-treating in San Diego on Halloween, prompting a police investigation and the arrest of two men.
The children, aged between one and six, reportedly received bags of gummies from a home in the Ocean Beach neighborhood shortly before 6 p.m. on October 31, according to the San Diego Police Department.
Newsweek contacted the San Diego Police Department via email on Friday for comment.
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Parents became suspicious of the packages and believed the sweets could contain controlled substances.
One parent, Frank Cary, told NBC 7 that his two-year-old had picked up one of the packets and was walking away with it when he noticed something unusual about the packaging. Cary said an image of a giraffe and distorted-looking lettering caught his attention, prompting him to take the packet from his child. He then spotted a dosage of five grams on the front before turning it over and discovering it contained psilocybin mushrooms.
The parents subsequently contacted police, with one parent preserving a package for testing. The gummies later tested positive for psychedelics, namely psilocybin, a hallucinogenic substance found in certain mushrooms.
Police have not confirmed whether any of the children consumed the gummies or experienced any adverse effects.
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Officers subsequently searched a property on the 2100 block of Sunset Cliffs Boulevard on Wednesday, November 4, where they reportedly discovered another bag of suspected psilocybin gummies matching those handed out on Halloween.
Investigators also seized more than 2.5 pounds of cannabis, over 25 grams of crystal methamphetamine, a digital scale, packaging materials and records believed to relate to drug sales.
Authorities additionally recovered an illegally possessed rifle, dozens of rounds of ammunition and a partially assembled pistol.
The investigation into the distribution of the gummies and potential child endangerment remains ongoing.
Who Were the Two Men Arrested?
Police arrested two men following the search of the Sunset Cliffs Boulevard property.
They were identified as 80-year-old Michael Goff and 45-year-old Shawn Michael Foster, both of whom were booked into San Diego County Jail.
Goff was arrested on suspicion of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, while Foster was arrested on suspicion of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
Neither man had been charged in connection with the distribution of the psychedelic gummies at the time of reporting.
Police have not confirmed who left the packages outside the property or who was responsible for distributing them to the children.
Other Cases of Children Receiving Dangerous Candy
Similar incidents involving potentially drug-laced Halloween treats have previously been reported elsewhere in the country.
In November 2023, a parent in Wisconsin discovered THC-infused sweets disguised as Sour Patch Kids in their child's trick-or-treat haul. Police confirmed the sweets contained tetrahydrocannabinol, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.
In 2024, an eight-year-old boy in Washington state was hospitalized after eating THC-infused sweets he had collected while trick-or-treating. Two years earlier, an Illinois man was charged with child endangerment after allegedly handing out gummy bears in packaging previously used for marijuana products.
A more notorious case dates back to Halloween 1974, when Texas father Ronald Clark O'Bryan gave cyanide-laced Pixy Stix to five children, including his eight-year-old son, Timothy.
Timothy died after consuming the poisoned candy, while the other four children did not eat theirs. Investigators found that O'Bryan had taken out life insurance policies on his children shortly before the killing. He was convicted of murder and executed in 1984.
However, reports of deliberately poisoned Halloween candy handed out by strangers have historically been rare. Criminologist Joel Best has documented decades of claims involving contaminated treats, many of which were found to be false, exaggerated or unrelated to trick-or-treating.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: John Fitzpatrick and Cristina Diciu.
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