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74-Year-Old Arrested for Giving His Church Congregation Pot Cookies

Bet that was a pretty chill church social hour. Photo: slgckgc/CC/flickr

Police in Bloomington, Indiana, arrested an elderly man this week who says he fed people at his church THC-laced cookies without telling anybody. Brian Jones, a 74-year-old member of St. John’s the Apostle Catholic Church, was the target of a six-month-long investigation after half a dozen congregants went to the ER following Mass at the church last May. At the time, they said they started experiencing “adverse effects” that ranged from nausea and lethargy to paranoia after eating cookies that tasted “saltier” than usual. When their urine tests came back positive for cannabinoids, doctors had to explain to a group of parishioners, age 12 to 70, that this is what the kids these days might call the “wacky tobacky.”

The Indy Star says Jones at first admitted he’d baked the cookies, but couldn’t explain why “an illegal substance [had been] added to them.” Investigators got a warrant anyways and found a pill bottle at his home that contained a “brown, oily substance” that “tested positive for marijuana.” At this point, Jones apparently realized the ruse was up and turned himself in. He faces charges of criminal recklessness and possession of hash oil.

“We are praying for Mr. Jones,” St. John’s pastor, Father Daniel Mahan, tells the local news. “We are keeping in prayer those who took ill that Sunday, and we are praying for justice with mercy.”

74-Year-Old Arrested for Feeding Churchgoers Pot Cookies