Drug-laced candy hitting SWFL streets

Published: Updated:

FORT MYERS, Fla.- They look harmless enough, but Sour Patch Kids could actually be hiding something dangerous and possibly deadly.

Drug-laced candy is now showing up on our streets and it may only get worse from here. Deputies say they caught 34-year-old Brandon Willis with the drugs and he is now behind bars. He had his first court appearance on Wednesday.

“It’s just awful. It’s just a nightmare for parents, a nightmare for kids. It’s just awful,” Deb Comella, the Executive Director of the Lee County Coalition for a Drug Free SWFL, said.

Deputies pulled Willis over on I-75 for following another vehicle too closely. Inside the car, deputies say they found all kinds of drug paraphernalia.

Deputies field tested the candies and found they were laced with a synthetic drug called Methylone. WINK News uncovered Methylone is a euphoric stimulant, similar to bath salts or ecstasy. Willis told them the candy was his but he didn’t know it contained drugs.

“Anyone could just be sitting in class, opening a packet of candy eating something, you don’t know what they are eating,” said former drug addict and mentor Robert Lombardi. “People lose their lives because they don’t know what they are using.”

These types of disguised drugs have also shown up on other areas of the state.

“I would like to say it is one guy, and I hope you’re right, but I suspect it is the tip of the iceberg,” said Comella.

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.