May 11 (UPI) — A Florida mother was distraught after her 11-year-old son found a small bag of methamphetamine in a video game purchased from GameStop.
Kayla McAllister said her son discovered a small bag full of a white substance inside a booklet in a used copy of Grand Theft Auto V her son bought by trading in some of his old video games to a GameStop store in Tallahassee.
A police report filed with the Gadsden County Sheriff’s Office and obtained by Kotaku confirmed the bag contained 0.6 grams of meth.
McAllister said she was confused, nervous and scared after learning the simple video game purchase might have exposed her son and her 3-year-old daughter to the harmful drug.
“I didn’t sleep the whole night that it happened,” she told WTXL.
She said she immediately called GameStop for an explanation and was directed to the company’s corporate offices.
“I’ve spoken to corporate and they’re investigating,” she said. “They actually offered me a video game to replace it. If something had happened to my child, they couldn’t have been replaced.”
A similar incident occurred at a GameStop in Louisiana in 2016 when a bag of meth was also found inside a used game case.
McAllister said she had been made aware of the Louisiana case and said she was upset the company allowed it to happen again.
“I want parents to be aware that they need to check everything, because drugs are everywhere now,” she said.
GameStop Corporate Communications Director Joey D. Mooring released a statement addressing the incident in Tallahassee.
“We are disappointed to hear about the experience one of our customers recently had when purchasing a pre-owned video game from one of our local Tallahassee stores. We work diligently to ensure the quality of our pre-owned items are like new,” he said. “Unfortunately, in this circumstance our thorough process fell short. We are extremely concerned that this incident occurred, and are working with the local police department to support them in their investigation.”
