29-year-old Bo Cosens was recently indicted on marijuana trafficking and possession charges and 26-year-old Rachel Sharrock for marijuana possession and permitting drug abuse. Prosecutors were originally seeking contamination charges as well for a batch of laxative-laced cookies the two served to a group of Claymont picketers, however, they were unable to find a lab to test those cookies.  

NEW PHILADELPHIA (Tusco TV) - Prosecutors say the Uhrichsville couple who filmed themselves earlier this year whipping up a batch of laxative-laced sugar cookies that they had delivered to Claymont’s union picketers have been indicted, but not for contaminating those cookies.

A Tuscarawas County grand jury recently indicted 29-year-old Bo Cosens on marijuana trafficking and possession charges and 26-year-old Rachel Sharrock for marijuana possession and permitting drug abuse. Assistant Prosecutor Amanda Miller says they weren’t able to present contamination charges because they have yet to find a lab willing to test the cookies.

"Neither of our two state labs are able to test the batch, and of the 15 private labs that we contacted, three said that they could do the test. However, they would not as it was their policy not to perform any testing when litigation was implicated. So, unfortunately, we’re not able to prove at this time that there were laxatives in those cookies," she says.

Miller says it’s a frustrating situation, even though these types of cases don’t come up very often.

"Regardless of whether it comes up often or not, this was a potentially dangerous situation and the fact that we’re unable to prosecute because there’s no testing at the state level is really disturbing," she says. 

Cosens and Sharrock are scheduled to be arraigned September 5th on drug charges. Those charges are fourth and fifth-degree felonies, while contaminating a substance for human consumption is a first-degree felony. Miller says she hopes the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation will take a look at its testing policies and adjust them accordingly to prevent this from happening again in the future.

TUSCO TV