4-year-old boy dies after ingesting 'large amount of THC gummies,' mother charged with murder

A Virginia mother is in jail facing felony murder charges after her son ingested gummies containing delta-8 tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, and died.

On May 6, 4-year-old Tanner Jacobs Clements somehow got ahold of what the Spotsylvania sheriff's office has described as "a large amount of THC gummies" and consumed them. The child then experienced a "medical emergency" and received treatment, but he died two days later.

Toxicology reports indicate that he had a "high level" of THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, in his system. Sheriff's office spokesperson Major Troy Skebo claimed that an attending physician had also told detectives that Tanner might have survived the incident if he had been taken in for medical care sooner.

On Monday, a grand jury indicted Tanner's mother, 30-year-old Dorothy Annette Clements, on felony murder charges for the death of her son. Three days later, Clements was taken into custody at the Rappahannock Regional Jail, where she is currently being held without bond.

Clements told WUSA-TV that she had purchased CBD gummies from a Fredericksburg store and thought they were harmless. She claimed not to have known that the gummies contained THC, which can be lethal for children.

However, police asserted that the evidence seized from Clements' home casts doubt on her story, though they would not elaborate on the nature of that evidence.

Clements' family did not answer questions regarding her arrest.

The FDA has neither evaluated nor approved THC for consumption and warns that adverse effects from THC have been reported. Of the 104 THC cases which had been reported to the agency as of February, 8% of them had occurred in minors under the age of 18.

The agency website likewise warns that all THC products should always "be kept out of reach of children and pets."

It is unclear exactly how much THC Tanner consumed or how much THC the individual gummies contained.