Suffolk police arrested and charged a Mastic man who allegedly provided cannabis gummies to a William Floyd Middle School student, who then gave them to peers in March, leading to the hospitalization of 11 students.
Wilmer Castillo-Garcia, 22, was arrested outside his Mastic home on Tuesday following an investigation into the distribution of the edible marijuana to students of William Floyd Middle School, Suffolk police announced.
On March 3, a 13-year-old student provided gummies they knew contained marijuana to a dozen peers at William Floyd Middle School. The drug cannot be legally purchased until age 21 at state-licensed facilities, Newsday previously reported. Eleven of the students who ingested the edibles were sent to a hospital for treatment.
Castillo-Garcia was arrested in connection with the William Floyd gummy incident after investigators recovered “cocaine, cash and evidence of drug sales” while executing a search warrant at another Mastic residence, home to Breiner Mayen-Balcarcel, 20, and Carlos Mendez-Aviles, 21, Suffolk police said in a news release.
Mayen-Balcarcel and Mendez-Aviles were both arrested at their home, police said.
A Suffolk County Police Department spokesperson said Castillo-Garcia was present at the residence of Mayen-Balcarcel and Mendez-Aviles during the execution of the warrant.
The spokesperson declined to discuss whether the warrant was obtained in connection with the distribution of marijuana gummies to the William Floyd Middle School student.
Castillo-Garcia was arrested and charged Tuesday with two counts of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance, two counts of unlawful sale cannabis or concentrated cannabis, seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and one count of endangering the welfare of a child “for supplying the middle school student with marijuana gummies,” Suffolk police said in the news release.
Mayen-Balcarcel was charged with two counts of third-degree criminal sale of a controlled substance and criminal possession of a controlled substance.
Mendez-Aviles was charged with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.
Both Castillo-Garcia and Mayen-Balcarcel “will be held overnight at the Seventh Precinct” and are expected to be arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on Wednesday, according to Suffolk police. Mendez-Aviles is expected to be arraigned at a future date.
Eleven of the students who ingested the edibles were sent to a hospital for treatment. Read More
