Cobb County

Teen suspended for selling 'pot-laced candy' -- but dad says it contained no drugs

COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A 14-year-old will be suspended for the rest of the semester for selling candy allegedly laced with marijuana. But his father says the candy didn't contain drugs at all -- and he knows because he helped make it!

Channel 2's Chris Jose spoke to Ellis Jones Jr., and his father, Ellis Jones Sr., who said he helped make the candy out of real grapes and a bag of Jolly Ranchers and that it did not contain THC.

Jones Sr. told Jose he's the one who encouraged his son to sell the candy for pocket change. On Aug. 24, the teen brought the candy to South Cobb High School and told his classmates to "come shop" on Snapchat.

School officials determined they believed there was THC in the candy and threatened to expel Jones Jr.

"I'm 1000% sure there's no THC in that candy whatsoever, because I helped him," Jones Sr. said.

Jones Sr. said that's what he told district leaders at the Board of Education office in Cobb County.

In a hearing on Friday afternoon, officials decided to suspend Jones Jr. until the end of the year rather than expel him. In the meantime, Jones Jr. will have to enroll in an alternative school.

Jones Sr. said he immediately rushed to the school when he got a call from an officer about the suspicious candy.

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"As soon as I got into the meeting, the first thing he said was, 'I already tested the candy. It came back hot,'" Jones Sr. said.

A letter from South Cobb said Jones Jr. is suspended for 10 days.

"When the Cobb County police tested the grapes, there was evidence that THC was present," the principal wrote in a letter.

Jones Sr. said he immediately requested the results of the field test from the officers.

"The first thing he told me was, 'Well, I threw it away,'" Jones Sr. said.

Jones Sr. said he asked officers to test the candy in front of him but they refused. He said school officials won't show him the lab results either. Jones Sr. said he doesn't understand why his son would be suspended if there are no criminal charges against him.

"He would have been detained. He would have been arrested," Jones Sr. said. "No charges have been pressed against him. He was not in handcuffs."

Jose contacted the school district and asked a spokeswoman why the child was suspended if he hasn't been charged with a crime.

The school district released a statement Friday afternoon, saying:

"Investigations performed by local school staff are completed with two priorities in mind: Determining what has actually happened and applying district policy to what has actually happened. Both priorities were completed appropriately in this case."