Georgia family says a needle was found in daughter's Halloween candy

CANTON, Ga. - A metro Atlanta police department is warning parents about a scary and potentially dangerous surprise that was found in Halloween candy.

The Canton Police Department say families in the Great Sky neighborhood found sewing needles jabbed into candy bars picked up on Halloween.

Leslie Thames says her daughter found one of the pieces of candy.

"When she picked up a piece of candy it felt weird," she said. "So, then she went to look at it, and it had a puncture."

When they opened it, they found a sewing needle jabbed into the chocolate peanut butter candy.

"Initially my thought process was, is this a prank, is this a joke?" Thames said. "So, we don't know if this was malicious intent, we don't know if it was someone trying to be funny."

Thames says she snapped some pictures and sent them to her friend who posted them on Facebook to make sure others in Canton's Great Sky neighborhood checked their children's candy.

"It did go viral, a lot of neighbors reached out, and it ended up being a couple of other people found needles and then it kind of just trailed back to our little pod or our little neighborhood," said Brooke Williams.

A report was filed with Canton police. Investigators say they have received at least two reports of candy tampering in the Great Sky neighborhood.

"We are concerned because objects of this nature can be harmful to those who may be trying to enjoy the candy," said Sgt. Tiffanie Cromer.

Police say the best thing to do is to check your candy for signs of tampering. Thames hopes this serves as a wake-up call for parents to do just that.

"You wouldn't expect it in Halloween candy these days, you wouldn't expect it, especially in our neighborhood, very close-knit, family-oriented," she said.

"It just makes me feel like we're living in a scary world, and now we're almost having to question everything," Williams said.

No one has been hurt.

Canton police ask anyone with information to give them a call.