VIENNA TWP., MI – Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton has charged a mother with second-degree child abuse in connection with an incident at a Clio-area elementary school that left more than a dozen students ill and five students hospitalized.
Leyton announced the charge in a Facebook live video Tuesday, May 3, along with Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson and Clio Area Schools Superintendent Fletcher Spears III, explaining that the woman left marijuana edibles in a LifeSavers package on a shelf inside her refrigerator.
Her six-year-old child then took them to school and other students ingested them.
The prosecutor noted that the woman likely just made a mistake.
“We understand that mom probably just made a mistake here,” Leyton said. “Nobody’s saying she’s a criminal. She made a mistake, but it’s a mistake that has caused a lot of havoc.”
Second-degree child abuse in Michigan is a 10-year felony. It was not clear whether the woman was facing any other charges.
The woman, who was not identified, purchased liquid THC in 2021 and made her own marijuana-infused gummy edibles with up to 30 milligrams of THC per gummy, Swanson said. The woman will turn herself in Wednesday morning for arraignment, according to the sheriff.
“Well, I can tell you that medical professionals across the country will tell you that with today’s THC concentration, it is absolutely probable that it can be toxic to the point of death,” Swanson said. “This can actually cause death in the highly concentrated ingestion of young people, people that are compromised.”
Leyton said that while it is legal to infuse and create your own marijuana edibles, the woman erred when she left the gummies out where her six-year-old child could access them.
“It’s just like a gun in your house. It’s just like a prescriptive drug in your house,” Leyton said. “You’re not going to let your child have access to that. You cannot let your child have access to the edibles that are so readily available today.”
The woman has other children and Swanson said Child Protective Services would be getting a referral on the case.
First responders were called to the elementary school around 1 p.m. Friday, April 29, after several students reported to their teacher that they were feeling ill.
Students were evacuated from the school as another form of caution. The school reached out to parents to notify them of the situation.
The symptoms shown by the students – nausea, lethargy, and lightheadedness – mirrored those indicative of carbon monoxide poisoning, or what one may feel if there was a gas leak, Swanson said at the time.
Authorities initially inspected the air and food in the school but did not indicate they found anything. Crews from Consumers Energy assisted area fire departments in examining the building for a gas leak or carbon monoxide but confirmed there was no leak or carbon monoxide detected.
In a letter published online on Saturday, April 30, Spears stated that further investigation had led authorities to believe that the students may have ingested a foreign substance that led to the illnesses.
According to the letter, five kindergarten students from one classroom were transported to Hurley Medical Center in Flint.
Sheriff’s office officials had previously said the affected students were in a second-grade classroom.
