DOCUMENT: Crime

Cops: Seniors Stoned In Pot Brownie Mishap

Woman, 73, was unaware THC in baked goods

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Baked Goods Bust

JANUARY 12--A group of senior citizens unknowingly consumed pot brownies that were brought to a community center card game by a 73-year-old South Dakota woman who was unaware that her son had prepared the baked goods with THC butter, cops report.

According to a probable cause affidavit, police dispatchers last Tuesday received several calls reporting “possible poisonings” of individuals who were “at the Tabor Community Center earlier for a card game.” Tabor (pop. 423) is a town about 85 miles southwest of Sioux Falls.

“An investigation into the incident lead me to believe that the patients were all under the influence of THC from a batch of brownies that were brought to the Community Center by Irene Koranda,” reported Deputy Sheriff Joel Neuman.

A couple who had been at the weekly Tuesday night card game told police that “after several people had eaten the brownies including themselves,” they learned that Koranda’s son “had made the brownies and had been in Colorado over the past weekend and brought back products with marijuana.”

During a police interview, Koranda said that her son Michael, 46, had “baked a pan of brownies and she took them to the Community Center card game,” unaware that the sweets contained THC, the psychoactive substance in cannabis. Koranda “willingly gave [the sheriff] the remainder of the brownies in a plastic container," Neuman reported.

The younger Koranda, an elementary school music teacher, told deputies that he prepared the pot brownies with THC butter that he brought back from Colorado. After baking the brownies, Koranda said, he “went to bed and his mother unknowingly took the brownies to the card game.”

Koranda (seen above) was arrested for possession of a controlled drug or substance, a felony carrying a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Free on $3000 bond, Koranda is scheduled for a January 25 court appearance. (2 pages)

RELATED: Stories about prior pot brownie blunders can be found here, here, here, and here.