Mother Arrested After Teen Passes Out Pot Candy In School
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COCONUT CREEK (CBSMiami) -- Coconut Creek Police say Christine Arguelles had a box of gummy candies laced with marijuana in the refrigerator of her home.
Investigators say Arguelles' daughter grabbed a handful of the candies and started selling them for $10 each at Lyons Creek Middle School, possibly on several recent occasions. At least one student got sick on Tuesday after ingesting them.
On Thursday afternoon, Coconut Creek Police were back at Arguelles' home. We saw them carry out a brown paper bag from the home. We're also learning more about how Arguelles' daughter got caught Tuesday.
According to the arrest report, one student at the school became ill and told police where she got the gummy candy. Then a friend of Arguelles' daughter told police Arguelles' daughter "…told her and several other students that her mother, Christine, had a large box full of the gummies at her residence…"
When police went to the home they found a box in the refrigerator with more than 80 of the gummies inside.
Detectives wrote in the arrest report "(Arguelles') immediately began yelling at (her daughter), 'Look what you did! You brought these cops into my house! You thought you were going to make some money?'"
The report says Arguelles told her daughter that she "…messed everything up."
Court records show Arguelles has been arrested twice before before for child neglect in 2009. She was accused of leaving her kids alone for hours in one instance and sleeping while her 16-month-old child got out of the house and into a parking lot on three occasions one morning.
At a child dependency hearing Thursday, a judge ordered Arguelles' three children out of her care.
Meanwhile, Arguelles asked a judge to reduce her bond of more than $100,000.
"I just recently moved," Arguelles told the judge. "I've been under a lot of stress. I really would plead with you to work on the bond."
But the judge did not.
Vanessa Velazquez has a son that attends Lyons Creek Middle School. He wasn't affected but she's upset about drugs being sold on campus.
"They're not safeguarding the school grounds as they should be so it's a severe concern," Velazquez said. "I think that the proper officials are not paying attention to the students."
Velazquez also played for us the recording she and other parents received from school administrators.
"We're calling to make you aware of an incident yesterday in which three students ingested gummy candies that may have been laced with a substance believed to be marijuana," the recording said.
The Broward School District released a statement saying, in part, that "parents are encouraged to discuss with their child the danger of these items, which are disguised as candy, and the importance of making good decisions. Any student in possession of these items will face appropriate disciplinary measures…"
The district said they are working with Coconut Creek Police on this investigation.
