Texas cops check possibly drug-laced gifts

updated 8:03 p.m. ET July 8, 2008

LAKE WORTH, Texas - A teenager is suspected of delivering baskets of drug-laced treats to about a dozen police departments in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, according to police who charged him Tuesday with LSD possession. At least three officers have gotten sick.

The 18-year-old man was arrested after taking cookies to the Lake Worth police station, said Brett McGuire, the suburb’s police chief. Officers there had been tipped off that someone was falsely claiming to deliver treats on behalf of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

“Our officers took a good whiff and thought they smelled like marijuana,” McGuire said, adding that preliminary tests instead detected traces of LSD.

Christian Phillips was taken into custody and later charged with possession of the powerful hallucinogen, although the charge may be changed, McGuire said.

The suspect denied trying to contaminate the goodies or harm anyone and said one of his friends might have been smoking pot while Phillips was baking, McGuire said. The suspect is not affiliated with MADD, the chief said.

Phillips remained jailed in Lake Worth pending an arraignment Wednesday. Bail had not been set, and he did not have an attorney yet, McGuire said.

In Fort Worth, at least three officers got sick after eating some cookies and candy from a basket delivered to that police station Monday night, authorities said.

Police there are conducting tests and plan to file charges if LSD or another drug or chemical is found in the food, said Lt. Paul Henderson.

Lake Worth investigators found that Phillips had a list of about two dozen police departments in north Texas, with 13 checked off, McGuire said. It’s unclear whether anyone else got sick because some deliveries were made in the past week.

Police in Blue Mound found traces of marijuana in the treats, he said. Blue Mound police tipped off Lake Worth after receiving a call from MADD that no one was delivering cookies on its behalf.

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