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Jeffrey Belmonte ate meatballs, Caesar salad and herbal bread at his wife’s cousin’s wedding in Longwood, Florida – and then he felt weird, tingling and nervous. His daughter-in-law was also dizzy and found herself on her hands and knees, vomiting her dinner.
Miranda Kadi, who knew the bride through friends, also ate bread and olive oil. Later she felt her heart stop. She went to her car and was so terrified that she would die there, she sent a message to let people know what happened to her.
This is what the weddings of Danya and Andrei Svoboda told the deputies after the February reception. Their feelings of stoning were later confirmed when their marijuana test was positive. Investigators estimated that about 50 people attended the wedding. None of the interviewed guests said they knew there would be marijuana in the food.
Now Danya Svoboda and Joycene Bryant’s wedding catering are accused of forging food and delivering marijuana, both a crime and negligence, a crime.
Attempts to reach Svoboda and Bryant were unsuccessful early Thursday. No lawyer was named in the court documents for any of the women.
As marijuana has become legal in many parts of the country, stories of dangerous incidents in which unsuspecting people, often children, consume food cooked in a pot have become commonplace. In March, three young children in Stafford County, Virginia, were hospitalized after apparently eating marijuana goldfish cookies in their day care, WRIC reported. This month, 14 primary school students in New Mexico were medically evaluated after eating chewing gum with THC, which one of the students brought, reports the Albuquerque Journal.
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All the reports in the court documents describing Svoboda’s wedding reception came from adults who had different levels of experience with the drug. In Florida, medical marijuana is legal, but recreational use remains prohibited.
Douglas Postma, the groom’s uncle, told lawmakers he had not used marijuana for many years until he ate his wedding meal, according to an affidavit. It used to feel different, he said. This time, his heart began to beat and he began to have “crazy thoughts,” the swearing-in statement said.
Postma sent an SMS to his nephew to ask him what was going on. Andrew Svoboda replied that he did not know and would investigate – a statement he would repeat to other guests, according to the sworn declaration. Postma’s wife, Nancy, later went to the emergency room and became paranoid, noisy and disobedient, believing that one of her family members had died, she later told lawmakers, according to sworn statements.
Earlier, while still at the front desk, Nancy Postma and her daughter Belmonte entered the kitchen looking for water and explaining that they were feeling unwell. According to an affidavit, one of the employees told them, “Well, there is cannabis in the food.”
Caddy told lawmakers she remembered seeing Bryant, the caterer, deliver food. She remembers seeing Bryant take a “green substance” out of a bowl and place it in small plates, which were then filled with olive oil, according to the oath. The pepper mixture didn’t taste like marijuana, she said, and the green substance in the dishes could have been “Italian herbs,” she told lawmakers.
But after eating the dip of bread and olive oil, she felt strangled.
Caddy then asked Bryant if there was marijuana in the food. Bryant “giggled and shook his head,” the swearing-in statement said.
Going out on the dance floor, Cady found the bride Danya Svoboda and asked if she had put cannabis in olive oil, she told lawmakers. According to the sworn declaration, Svoboda said “yes”, smiling and behaving as if she had made a “gift” to Cady.
Rachel Penn, a neighbor of the newlyweds, told lawmakers that after eating olive oil, she felt “weird” and “buzzing.” At about 9 p.m., she said, the band stopped playing and the reception was over. The Seminole County Fire and Rescue Service eventually showed up, as did the sheriff’s deputies.
Sitting in the hospital, Penn texted the bride and asked what she had consumed at the wedding. According to an affidavit, Svoboda sent a message: “Ugh, we have no idea, let us know if you need help with something.”
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