Photo Provided A St. Clairsville parent found a suspicious capsule in her child’s trick-or-treat bag on Halloween. Parents are reminded to check their children’s candy before letting them eat it.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — A parent found a suspicious capsule inside her child’s trick-or-treat candy, according to St. Clairsville Police.

Police Chief Jeff Henry said the parent found the capsule during a routine check after the child returned home Halloween night from trick-or-treating. Although police do not know what the substance is and have no suspects, someone could face a felony charge depending on what’s inside the capsule.

“A lady came in and said she found a black capsule in her child’s candy when she was making sure the candy was safe to eat,” Henry said. “She brought it to our attention. She said she has no idea where they got it. They were on the north side of town last night, on North Sugar, Bellview, Overbaugh Avenue area. She accompanied her child there.

“She just wants everybody to be aware that they need to check their children’s candy,” he said.

Henry said there were no evident indicators about what the capsule might be.

“It has no markings. It’s kind of black and sparkly,” he said.

Henry said he took it to a pharmacist to see if he could get any indication of what the capsule is. He said the pharmacist told him it was a homemade capsule. Henry said he considered sending the capsule to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations lab to examine, but was told it would only take it if police had a suspect in mind.

“It could be a supplement. It’s hard to tell. I have no clue. You can do anything with a supplement. You can fill a capsule, take the thing apart, put whatever you want in,” he said.

Henry said he is considering taking the capsule to an independent lab, but that will depend on the how much that costs and if the lab would accept the job.

He said there have been no other reports of suspicious objects.

“Nothing else. This is our only one,” said Henry who also said this was an unusual occurrence in town. “I haven’t had any incidents of that (before now).”

Henry cautions trick-or-treaters in general and particularly those who visited the north side of town.

“This is a caution for other patents to make sure that they check their kids’ stuff thoroughly before they let them eat it,” he said.

Henry said Halloween was otherwise peaceful. There were five cruisers out patrolling in St. Clairsville. Belmont County sheriff deputies also were on hand at the courthouse to check bags of candy.

Anyone with information about the capsule is asked to call St. Clairsville police at 740-695-0123.