Needle in candy called hoax
Police: Teen charged after admitting to lie
A 14-year-old was charged with falsely reporting an incident after police said he lied about finding a sewing needle in a candy bar, an assertion that initially prompted local police to warn of possibly tainted candy.
Police reported the teen found the needle when he bit into the fun-sized Twix. After an investigation, the teen admitted to officers that he made the incident up after seeing a similar hoax on Tiktok and thought it would be funny.
The teenager was processed and released to probation, Det. Sgt. Michael A. Guadagnino said Tuesday.
East Greenbush police posted a “check your candy” alert on its Facebook page Monday night after initially taking the complaint from the teen’s father.
“This is the first time in my 17 years working I’ve ever seen this happen,” Guadagnino said.
Halloween candy that is tampered with is rare, although there are occasional instances. There was another case this Halloween in northern Ohio. Newsweek reported that police in the city of Fostoria, Ohio said they were made aware of two pieces of candy, including a Kit Kat, that contained needles and were given out to children on Saturday.
University of Delaware professor Joel Best, who has been tracking tampered Halloween candy since 1958, told CNN it’s not common.
“I can find no evidence that any child has ever been killed or seriously injured by a contaminated treat picked up in the course of trick-ortreating,” Best told the news network after the Ohio case this past weekend.
“While reports of contaminated
treats do occur, I know of only two efforts to try and investigate reports of contaminated treats; both concluded that most were hoaxes,” Best said.
But while candy is sometimes tampered with, false reports happen.
In 2018, police in Hoosick Falls investigated after a child reported finding a needle in a candy bar. Police said the child did not realize a parent would call police after the youngster claimed to find the needle.