Man Admits To Selling Drug-Laced Gummy Candies

A man from New York, who was arrested by Mentor Police, admitted to making and selling drug-laced gummy candies.

Eric Kenny, 23, pleaded guilty to charges of drug trafficking, drug possession and operating a vehicle while intoxicated Tuesday morning in Lake County Common Pleas Judge Richard Collins Jr.'s courtroom.

Collins will sentence Kenny on March 4.

Kenny -- who is from Chester, NY -- and his two codefendants, Michal Nemcok and Arkady Koroshikh, were arrested on June 19.

A Mentor policeman saw Kenny speeding on Mentor Avenue shortly after midnight and stopped him in the parking lot of a gas station.

The officer smelled alcohol on Kenny's breath and arrested him on suspicion of driving drunk, Mentor Police Lt. Tim Allen said at the time of Kenny's arrest. Kenny later admitted to driving while high on marijuana.

While searching the car, police found several drugs, drug ingredients and paraphernalia, police said, including:

• several tablets of Ecstasy (MDMA)
• chemical powders including methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) -- a stimulant that is sometimes used as a recreational drug
• four grams of marijuana
• two pipes
• four digital scales
• two hand grinders
• molds to make gummy bears
• 60 gummy bears

Police believe the powders and molds were used to make drug-laced candies.

"They would make little gummy bears that you could take instead of a tablet or an injection," Assistant Lake County Prosecutor Sarah Lintern said.

Nemcok and Koroshikh both also face charges of drug trafficking and possession. Koroshikh, 26, of Brooklyn, NY, has an information hearing scheduled for Feb. 7.

Nemcok, 24, of Selden, NY, has been indicted but no court hearings have been scheduled yet.