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The girl's father found a pinkish-colored Ziploc pouch
containing a powdery substance while checking his daughter's
trick-or-treat collection on Monday morning and called
authorities, police said.
The father told police the bag apparently ended up in the
child's Halloween candy while they were out trick-or-treating on
Friday night near their home in the East Bay town of Hercules,
California, about 25 miles northeast of San Francisco.
Testing of the substance, measuring one-tenth of a gram,
revealed it to be crystal methamphetamine, "a small amount but
enough to do damage to an 8-year-old girl had she gotten into it
on her own," said detective Connie Van Putten, a spokeswoman for
the Hercules Police Department.
She said detectives were re-interviewing the father and daughter
on Tuesday to determine precisely which homes they visited on
Halloween and were trying to see if fingerprints could be lifted
from the plastic bag that carried the meth.
The father told police he and his daughter were
trick-or-treating in a well-lit, 10-block area of town called
the Promenade, consisting of quaint Victorian homes with picket
fences, which is a popular gathering spot on Halloween.
Van Putten said the case appears to be an isolated incident, and
detectives have no immediate evidence that the girl was singled
out as a target.
"We are leaning toward it being an accident, but we are not
ruling out an intentional act," she said. "Whoever it was may
have intended to put it in somebody's candy but not hers."
A tenth of a gram of meth, while a relative small amount, is
enough to bring felony charges for possession of a controlled
substance, she said.
Van Putten said the case is a reminder for parents to look after
their children's Halloween activities.
"You don't want to keep your children in bubble wrap, but you do
need to be aware ... and go through children's candy to make
sure none of the packaging has been tampered with, and that
there's no needles, razor blades or anything foreign," she said.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
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