Police charge ‘copycat’ for false candy tampering report

Police charge ‘copycat’ for false candy tampering report
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A South Jersey police department announced that they had charged a man with filing a false report of receiving dangerouscandy on Halloween.

Related link:Needles reportedly found in Kennett Square Halloween candy

The Gloucester Township police department announced Monday that they went to the Blackwood, NJ home of Robert Ledrewfor a report of Halloween candy withsewing needles in it.

Ledrew, 37,who had posted images of the candy on Facebook on Sunday,told police he found four sewing needles in four separate pieces of candy that were acquired during Halloween trick-or-treating.

“It was discovered that Robert Ledrew had made up the story and had placed the needles in the candy bars,” police said.

Related link:Police: suspected kidnapping report was just family dispute

Ledrew, 37, of Blackwood, is now charged with filing a false police report.

Kennett Square Police in Chester County, who received similar reports over the weekend, did not respond immediately to requests for comment about whether the Blackwood case had any connection to theirs, which also involved needles being found in Halloween candy.

But the Gloucester Township report mentioned those reports, which may have inspiredLedrew’s report.

“It was discovered that Robert Ledrew had posted a photo of a needle and comments of the alleged incident on a Facebook page the day prior to contacting the police. Additionally, there had been recent reports of alleged tampered Halloween candy circulating in the local news media.”

Gloucester Township Police did not respond immediately to requests for comment about whether the Kennett Square reports had any connection to the Blackwood case.