He's just a police exhibit keeper - but tonight 38 year old Mario Bustillos from Orange Walk is the one being squarely blamed for the edibles outrage.
He was arraigned today in court on 10 counts of negligent harm upon 10 minors under the age of 10. Police say he is the one who carelessly discarded over 200 parcels of marijuana laced edibles and took them to the dump.
But, today in court, his attorney had a different story. Darrell Bradley said the items were brought to the exhibit room in two garbage bags, and just deposited there. He added, quote, "they were not labelled and appeared to be garbage bags that were just left there for a period of time.
In the past (when) the items were left there for a while, he would throw then out because at times they smelled. In this case, the items were there for 3 weeks," end quote.
And, indeed, 7News has learned that members of the police Anti Narcotics Unit picked up the edibles from the customs department and dropped them at the evidence room in those bags. Our reports say Bustillos told them the items were not properly labelled, but they took no corrective action. No disciplinary action has been taken against these officers.
So, the edibles stayed there in the evidence room, unlabelled for three weeks until Bustillos threw them away. Police say he took them to the dump where scavengers seized upon them - and sold them into the streets, from there they ended up in the hands of school vendors, who sold the marijuana laced sweet treats to school children for a dollar each - causing a mass marijuana intoxication event and leaving 31 children and 7 adults hospitalized.
Now, Bustillos is accused of intentionally causing harm to the minors, but in court today he pleaded not guilty to all ten counts.
He received bail of $7,000 dollars which he met. Bustillos must report to the Orange Walk Police Station once a week, he is not to be within 100 feet of the victims or any witnesses; and he is not to leave the jurisdiction without the permission of the court.
