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A former middle school teacher in Colorado was found guilty in court for giving two of her students marijuana-laced brownies as a reward for their work.
Sharon Wilson, 55, was found guilty by a jury on Thursday of two counts of misdemeanor child abuse following a 2024 incident at Kepner Beacon Middle School, reports The Denver Post.
She denies the allegations.
The two students allege they were given the brownies by their then-English teacher as a reward for naming the most words rooted in Greek and Latin. They say they were unaware the brownies were laced with a psychoactive drug.
Wilson, who had worked for Denver Public Schools for over 22 years, according to her LinkedIn profile, was known for regularly bringing homemade baked goods to class, as reported by The Post.
However, on one occasion in June 2024, a student, 13, complained that Wilson’s brownies had “a weird sour” taste, so he put them into his backpack.
Despite not liking the taste, the boy did not alert Wilson because “he didn’t want to be mean to her,” he told the jury. But after consuming part of the brownie, he said his head started to roll and things began to “look a little weird.”
The boy then said he got the munchies, as evidenced by the unusual amount of macaroni and cheese and fried chicken he ate at home. He added that after his ordeal, he took a long nap and felt better.
Meanwhile, the other child thought from the outset that the brownie smelled and tasted like marijuana, claimed prosecutor Brad Watts. He said that after eating it, he felt nauseous and “really out of it” and required his friends to help him to his mom’s car at the end of the school day. The other child’s age was not revealed in the documents.
His mom noticed he had bloodshot eyes and was acting unusually, so she raised the alarm: first by asking her son if he had taken drugs, which he denied, and then contacting his teacher to ask what ingredients were in the brownies.
Sharon Wilson, 55, was found guilty by a jury on Thursday of two counts of misdemeanor child abuse following a 2024 incident at Kepner Beacon Middle School in Denver (pictured) (Google Maps)
She told Wilson that her son had begun to feel sick after consuming them. Wilson’s attorney, Ethan Ice, said his client responded with no mention of marijuana and had “genuine concern” for her student’s safety.
The panicked mom then took her son to the hospital and contacted the school principal and police. She saved part of the leftover brownie for it to be handed to the cops.
The brownie came back positive for THC, prosecutors said.
Wilson’s attorney strongly denied that the brownies contained any drugs.
A former middle school teacher in Colorado has been found guilty of giving students a marijuana-laced brownie, says lawsuit (Getty/iStock)
He argued that Wilson had given them a previous batch she had defrosted, and that it had been susceptible to freezer burn.
While Wilson admitted that she had made weed brownies in the past, she adamantly denied that the ones she gave her students were laced, according to her attorney.
The former teacher was placed on paid administrative leave at the end of the 2023-2024 academic year, according to Denver Public Schools spokesman Scott Pribble, who added that she “separated” from DPS ahead of the 2024-2025 school year.
“This is a case about missing links,” Ice said during the jury trial’s opening statements Wednesday.
Denver District Attorney spokesman Matt Jablow confirmed that a sentencing date had not been set.
Sharon Wilson, 55, was found guilty by a jury on Thursday of two counts of misdemeanor child abuse following a 2024 incident at Kepner Beacon Middle School Read More
