MESA, Ariz. - It’s a cautionary tale that always pops up when the pumpkins roll out: Razors in Halloween candy.
“It’s always an urban legend -- we've never come across anything like that before,” said Vicki Mataipule.
But this Halloween, the warning to check your trick or treat candy for hidden dangers is exactly what one Mesa family is warning everyone to do after what they say they found in a mini Snickers bar.
The Mataipule kids had just wrapped up a night of trick-or-treating and were about to dive into their candy.
“Father said ‘Make sure you check the candy and make sure it's not poisoned,’” Vicki said, “Of course, you never think there's going to be anything in the candy.”
They all laughed but did it anyway.
“We were looking through the candy and I picked up a Snickers and it was slightly slit open at the bottom,” said Nikole Mataipule, Vicki’s teenage daughter.
“She opens it more and just sees metal and it (the Snickers bar) rumbles apart and you just see a giant metal razor,” said her brother 10-year-old Josh Mataipule.
A full-size razor blade, hidden inside the mini chocolate bar.
“I was in shock,” Vicki said. “I couldn't believe that somebody would actually do that.”
The family reported the tampered candy to the Mesa Police Department.
“We put out information immediately last night to all the officers just to be aware,” said Det. Steve Berry, a spokesperson for the Mesa Police Department.
Detectives are now investigating which house the tampered candy may have come from.
While cases like this are extremely rare, policed say that doesn’t mean they can’t happen.
“I don't know why somebody would want to put a straight razor in a candy to injure children,” Nikole said. “There's sick people in the world.”
So far, Mesa police have only received one report of tampered candy but urge all parents to check their children’s candy and report anything suspicious to police.
The Mataipules say they trick-or-treated in neighborhoods near the intersections of Country Club and University drives, Stapley and University drives, McKellips and Brown roads and near Mountain View High School.
