4-Year-Old Girl Passes Out Heroin Packets At Daycare, Thought They Were Candy

A four-year-old girl from Delaware was found by daycare employees passing out packets of heroin to her classmates.

USA Today reports that the little girl’s mother, Ashley R. Tull, was arrested after the child took 249 bags of heroin to a daycare center in Selbyville and started handing it out, thinking it was candy, state police said. Fortunately, the Hickory Tree Child Care Center employees found the packets before any were opened by the children. As a precaution, some of the children were taken to a local hospital. All the children checked out and were released without treatment.

While police say a total of 3.735 grams of heroin were found, enough for a felony possession charge, the mother was not charged for its possession or as a suspected dealer. Tull was charged Monday with maintaining a drug property and three counts of child endangerment, then freed on $6,000 secured bail. However, it is still not clear who the drugs belonged to in this case. Police say that more charges are forthcoming.

According to Delaware Online, the little girl had no idea what she was passing out to her classmates. The four-year-old thought the tiny packets contained candy so began distributing them.

“Thinking the packets were candy, she began passing them out to her classmates.”

According to the police report, the girl had taken her mother’s backpack to school that day after the family dog ruined her old one. Once the packets were found among the children, the daycare immediately called the police. The packets were then taken to a lab where they tested positive for heroin. The police said no charges are expected to be filed against the daycare as they believe they responded correctly to the incident.

“I think they handled it appropriately and reported the situation immediately to police.”

The three endangerment charges stem from the fact that three children lived in the home were the drugs were being stored. In addition to the 4-year-old girl, Tull had two other children – a 9-year-old boy and 11-year-old girl – who live in the home. The children were all placed with a relative and Tull was told she is unable to have contact with them.

This isn’t the first time heroin has shown up at a place specifically designed for children. Two men shared a stall in a Chuck E Cheese restroom to smoke heroin.

The little girl and her classmates were fortunately not harmed by the mother’s neglect. However, police are still working on filing more charges after the investigation is complete.