AUBURN, Maine – A Maine woman was unhappy with what she found in her son’s Happy Meal.
An employee at a McDonald’s restaurant in Auburn is accused of illegally selling prescription drugs to another employee, who then unknowingly dropped them into the boy’s Happy Meal, WCSH reported.
According to a Facebook post by the Auburn Police Department, Michael Sevey, 43, of Turner, and Mariah Grant, 29, of Auburn, were arrested. Sevey was charged with unlawful possession of Schedule W drugs, a misdemeanor; Grant was charged with unlawful trafficking in Schedule W drugs, a felony.
Auburn Deputy Police Chief Timothy Cougle said in a release Wednesday that the department received a complaint from the boy’s mother, Shirlee Marchesseault, of Oxford, on June 30. According to Cougle, Marchesseault found Suboxone, a prescription drug used to treat people addicted to opioids, WCHS reported.
The woman said she found the prescription in her son’s Happy Meal after picking it up at the restaurant’s drive-thru window, the television station reported.
After reviewing video surveillance footage and interviewing employees, detectives determined that the Suboxone fell out of Sevey’s shirt pocket as he prepared an order, and the prescription landed in the Happy Meal, Auburn Police said in its news release.
According to Cougle, Sevey got the prescription illegally from Grant earlier in the day. He did not realize the drugs were missing until the incident was brought to the attention of store employees.
Marchesseault told WCHS that her “blood was boiling” after she found in the packets in her son’s meal.
“I didn’t even know what to do,” Marchesseault told the television station, adding that she called the police and held onto the box and the store receipt.
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Taylor Goble, who owns and operated the McDonald’s restaurant in Auburn, told WCHS in a statement that he was “shocked and disappointed” by her employees’ behavior.
“(It) goes against the values we have as an organization and will not be tolerated,” Goble said in her statement. “In our restaurants, nothing is more important than the safety and well-being of our employees and customers. We are taking this matter seriously so that we can continue to maintain our high standards.”
Sevey and Grant are no longer employed at the restaurant, she said. They are scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 3, the Auburn Police Department said.
