1st grader brought heroin to school in North Philadelphia, police say

NORTH PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Philadelphia police are investigating after a first grader brought several packets of heroin to an elementary school in North Philadelphia.

It happened Tuesday at the William Cramp Elementary School in the 3900 block of North Mascher Street.

Police tell Action News the boy got a hold of nearly a dozen packets of heroin and was showing them to other students in the school lunchroom when he got scared and tossed them into a trash can.

Two older children found them and gave them to adults.

The four children who handled the packets were taken to St. Christopher's Hospital for Children to be evaluated.

None of them had ingested anything and they are all okay.

The case is now being investigated by the police Special Victims Unit.

The school's principal, Deanda Logan, sent a letter home to parents yesterday advising them of the situation. They also received automated telephone calls from the school.

Text from the letter reads:

This letter is a reminder to please check your child's school bag every day and remove ANYTHING that does not belong in a school. Today, one of your child's classmates, a first grader, brought an item to school that we believe is illegal.

Once the item was discovered by school staff, a report was immediately made, all students were checked by the school nurse, and the Philadelphia police were contacted and came to the school.

Again, we BEG you to please check school bags and pockets each day so that all students and staff are safe every day. Please feel free to call me if you would like to discuss further.

There is no mention of keeping drugs out of reach of children or other possibilities.

"Don't try and hide them in your child's bookbag. Something happened, somebody put them in there. The child probably found them in their home and brought them in thinking it was candy in a package," says parent Molly Cordero.

In addition to calling police, a district spokesperson says the school also contacted the Department of Human Services to look into the child's safety and welfare.

Parents worry that their own children were put in danger.

"I'm scared now that I heard that. Of course. Because you know how kids are naive and they don't know any better. They could have gotten poisoned or something," said Maria Nunez.

So far no charges have been filed in the case as police continue their investigation.