Crown stays charges against man accused of handing out cannabis candies on Halloween

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This article was published 05/12/2023 (689 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Charges have been stayed against a Tuxedo man accused of doling out cannabis-laced Halloween candy to young trick-or-treaters last year.

Sheldon Chochinov, 64, and his wife Tammy Sigurdur, 54, were each charged with 13 counts of distributing cannabis to a young person and 13 counts of distributing cannabis knowing it is illicit following the Oct. 31, 2022 incident.

Court records show all charges were stayed against Chochinov on Nov. 9.

Chochinov and Sigurdur were arrested Nov. 1, 2022, one day after police received complaints from several parents who said that among the items their children returned home with on Halloween night were bags of Nerds Rope candies containing 600 mg of THC.

THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, is the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.

The candies appeared to be professionally packaged and, on superficial viewing, looked similar to conventional candy products.

None of the children, aged from six to 16, who reported receiving the candies had eaten them, police said at the time.

Chochinov agreed at the Nov. 9 hearing to forfeiture of the drugs seized.

“As Mr. Chochinov had no knowledge or possession of any illicit substances at any time, he has no issue agreeing to their forfeiture,” his lawyer Evan Roitenberg told court.

Sigurdur pleaded guilty in September to one count each of supplying cannabis to a young person and possessing cannabis that is not packed, labelled and stamped, offences under the Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Control Act.

Sigurdur admitted, in the words of her lawyer Saul Simmonds, to “inadvertently providing the items” to trick-or-treaters.

She is expected to be sentenced in early 2024.

Search warrant documents previously reviewed by the Free Press alleged Chochinov contacted his lawyer after seeing a police media alert about the incident and disclosed that “the two ran out of candy on Halloween night and distributed the THC candy from their personal ‘stash.’”

“Chochinov disclosed… that this was a mistake made when under the influence and both he and his wife regretted what they had done,” the search warrant alleged.

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According to search-warrant documents, police found several packages of regular candy near the front door, suggesting the drug candies “(were) not distributed as a result of a rushed last-minute mistake, but instead criminal negligence and lack of proper care being taken.”

In an email to the Free Press last February, Roitenberg said the couple did not intentionally distribute the drug-laced candy to children.

“At no time did either party know that there were drugs included with candy handed out on Halloween,” Roitenberg said.

“When they became aware on Nov. 1, they contacted our office for the purpose of facilitating their doing the right thing: alerting the police and advising them that the candy came from their home. This was not an intentional act.”

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca

Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter

Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.

Every piece of reporting Dean produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.