THC gummies mixup costs father restitution, fines

An Upper Arlington man whose 10-year-old daughter mistook his edible marijuana gummies for candy and shared them with four of her classmates at Windermere Elementary School could have to pay up to $5,000 in restitution to the students’ families.

The five students experienced hallucinations after eating the gummies April 22 and were taken to Nationwide Children’s Hospital for treatment.

Scott Macre, 43, pleaded guilty in May to inducing panic, obstructing official business and possession of a controlled substance, all misdemeanors. Four counts of endangering children were dropped.

On Tuesday, Franklin County Municipal Court Judge James O’Grady sentenced Macre to two years of nonreporting probation, during which he is required to not reoffend and to fulfill any insurance claims for medical bills caused by his conduct, according to the Upper Arlington City Attorney’s office.

O’Grady also ordered Macre to pay court fees, a $300 fine for the inducing panic charge and up to $5,000 in restitution split evenly among the four children’s families, if they are not otherwise compensated.

J. Scott Bowman, a civil attorney representing two of the affected families, told The Dispatch he is seeking a settlement from Macre and Macre’s homeowner’s insurance to fully cover the families’ current and future medical bills and other economic losses.

But if Bowman is not successful garnering a settlement or getting a result in civil court, he said the victim’s families will at least be able to use this criminal verdict to obtain up to $1,250 each from Macre for court-approved expenses.

“It’s a very scary thing these kids had to go through unnecessarily and are going to struggle with for a long time,” Bowman said. “In broad terms, fair compensation would be that these families are fully compensated for all their medical bills, all the time they’ve missed from work to take their kids to doctor’s visits, and all the long-term counseling experts say their kids will need.”

“I am truly sorry for all of the worry and the turmoil that you experienced,” Macre told the affected children and families at his sentencing Tuesday, according to WBNS-TV.

According to court records, Macre’s daughter saw the 50mg THC gummies in a glass jar in a kitchen cabinet, mistook them for leftover Easter candy and took five of them in her lunchbox April 22 to Windermere Elementary School. THC stands for tetrahydrocannabinol, the compound that gives marijuana its high.

At lunch, she and four classmates, all 11 or younger, ate the gummies, which were described in court records as being rectangular and red, blue and purple in color.

Macre’s daughter and the four other students showed signs of impairment, were nauseous, experienced hallucinations and had elevated heart rates, according to court documents.

“This is going to cause long-term psychological harm to these kids,” Bowman said. “Both of my clients’ kids are suffering from things like nightmares; they’re afraid to go to sleep.”