Police examine candy that made boy ill

Deepa Bharath

NEWPORT BEACH -- Police officials are testing candy an unidentified

man handed out Thursday afternoon because it reportedly burned an

8-year-old boy’s throat, officials said.

The boy, whose name is not being released, was checked into Hoag

Hospital but was released shortly afterward, police said. Family members,

who chose to remain anonymous, say they are “shaken up.”

Police said the boy was playing with several other children about 1

p.m. at Alta Vista Park, at the corner of Eastbluff and Alta Vista

drives, when a man believed to be in his 40s pulled over and asked the

boys if they wanted some leftover candy.

“The candy was mostly egg-shaped chocolate wrapped in foil,” Sgt.

Steve Shulman said.

The other children who ate the candy were fine, but the one victim

felt the chocolate burn his mouth so he spit out some of it, Shulman

said.

“We are not sure if the candy contained anything suspicious, but we

are going to take it seriously and will investigate it,” he said.

The victim’s mother, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said

doctors at Hoag told her the candy was definitely “tainted.”

She said her son was playing with other neighborhood children on the

sidewalk adjoining the park when a man pulled over and offered the kids

candy.

“My son told me the man in the car had a lady with him and a baby,”

she said. “He said the man gave them the candy in a baggy and told them,

‘Give this candy to your friends. I’ll come back with more.”’

She said while other children ate the egg-shaped candy, her son picked

out some square-shaped pieces, ate one and put a couple in his pocket.

The mother said the incident was chilling because the man in the car

appeared to be with his family and seemed to the children to be

trustworthy and hardly suspicious or frightening.

She said she was one of several other mothers and children at the

park, but she was tending to her three other children when the incident

occurred.

“There were so many people around,” she said. “And this all happened

so fast.”

The incident was the latest to cause concern relating to child-safety

issues in area parks. Officials and volunteers have been patrolling

Newport-Mesa parks regularly since spring when razor blades and glass

shards were found on playground equipment and in the sand.

* Deepa Bharath covers public safety and courts. She may be reached at

(949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at o7 deepa.bharath@latimes.comf7 .