Two McDonald's employees in Maine have been arrested and charged after one customer complained that she found a prescription drug used to treat opioid addiction inside her son's Happy Meal box. Shirlee Marchesseault, the mom of the child, said that she was shocked to discover the drug in her son's food packet that they had just bought form the outlet.
According to reports, the employee unintentionally dropped the prescription drugs in the boy's meal. Although the child was unharmed, authorities believe a major accident was avoided because the mother spotted the packets of the drug in time.
Shocking Discovery
Marchesseault said that she was shocked and her "blood was boiling" after she found the four packets of Suboxone, which is used to treat opioid addiction. According to News Center Maine, the mom was looking searching the bottom of the box as she was looking for the toy that comes with the meal, authorities said.
However, instead of toys, what she found were four packets of Suboxone and that too when her son had eaten most of the meal, which they picked up from a McDonald's drive-thru in the city of Auburn on June 30.
"I didn't even know what to do," Marchesseault told the outlet about the incident. The incident was then reported to the police following which an investigation was launched. Officers began an "extensive review" of the restaurant's video surveillance footage that led cops to believe it was all an "accident," according to a news release.
On Wednesday, police said that they have arrested two employees in connection with the incident that also tarnished the image of the store.
Employees Turned Drug Dealers
Investigations later revealed that the drugs had fallen out of one of the employees Michael Sevey's shirt pocket while he was manning the drive-thru window, police said. It sounds simple but investigators found more into the way the drugs made its way into the store.
Police said that the drug packets may have popped out of employee's shirt pocket and fallen into the child's meal but before that another employee Mariah Grant, 29, had allegedly sold the Suboxone to Sevey, 43, at the beginning of their shift.
"The employee had no knowledge that the prescription was missing from the shirt until later in the shift, when the incident was brought to the store's attention," according to the Auburn Police Department.
Following that both Sevey and Grant were arrested. Sevey was charged with unlawful possession of drugs, and Grant was charged with unlawful drug trafficking. Both are scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 3. It was unclear on Wednesday if the two had retained attorneys.
McDonald's hasn't commented on the incident. However, police said the investigation is ongoing and that McDonald's is cooperating with the probe.
