No Jail Time After Child Finds Drugs In Subway Chips Display

EAST HAVEN, CT — Henry Marrero-Rodriguez, 48, was arrested in March 2019 after a 7 year-old child found a sandwich bag containing cocaine and fentanyl in the potato chip display at Subway Sandwich Shop, 521 Main Street. Police at the time said Marrero-Rodriguez accidentally knocked the bag out of his coat as he reached for his cell phone and the drugs landed in the chip display.

Marrero-Rodriguez avoided prison after agreeing to plead guilty to lesser charges including a possession charge and two counts of first-degree reckless endangerment, the New Haven Register reports. He received a suspended sentence from the judge.

The incident in question occurred on November 22, 2017 after a Subway manager called to report that a customer turned in a bag of suspected narcotics, police said.

Police seized a large sandwich bag containing seven smaller baggies filled with a white powder substance, police said at the time.

A customer who was ordering told police that her 7 year-old son found the bag containing narcotics in the chip display, seemingly dropped by a previous customer, police said. Unaware of the potential dangers it could have posed, the child began handling the bag of narcotics briefly before turning it over to his mother, police said at the time.

The child did not ingest and was not directly exposed to the substances at any time and did not require medical attention, police said at the time. Video surveillance showed a male and female enter the store approximately a half hour prior to the discovery of the drugs, police said.

Marrero-Rodriguez is seen on video going into his coat pocket to retrieve his cell phone, police said. As he brings his cell phone out of his pocket, a clear sandwich bag is seen falling from his pocket on to the potato chip display, police said at the time. Marrero-Rodriguez and his female companion are then seen leaving the store without noticing the misplaced narcotics, police said.

A short time later, the complainant and her children enter the store which is when the drugs are discovered by the child, police said. The seized narcotics were later tested and were positively identified as Cocaine and Fentanyl.