How a 4-year-old girl got candy that turned out to be a painkilling narcotic drug is a riddle police officers here were trying to solve Wednesday.
Bailey Barzano of Homosassa was hospitalized overnight Sunday after a relative found oxycodone inside a bag of Skittles the girl had been eating from.
Bailey and her grandparents, Jeffrey and Holly Ball, were at Tampa International Airport to pick Bailey's uncle when the girl asked to go to the bathroom. Her grandmother accompanied Bailey to the restroom, and when Bailey emerged she was carrying an unopened bag of candy, according to police reports.
The girl ate some of the candy and when her uncle, James Shye, arrived he was given the bag of candy to snack on, police said. Shye, a pharmacy technician, opened the bag and found four oxycodone tablets.
He noticed that Bailey was in and out of sleep and, believing the girl had eaten some of the pills, told the grandparents to immediately drive to a local hospital.
Bailey was hospitalized overnight and was back at home Tuesday. She was reported to be in good health.
The source of the candy, tropical flavored Skittles, has not been determined. Airport officials said that flavor of Skittles was not sold in their stores, but they pulled all 2.17-ounce bags of Skittles off the shelves.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is studying the bag and its contents. William Wrigley Jr. Co., the maker of the candy, said it is cooperating with the investigation.
