NC mom finds pot in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle lunchbox

FAYETTEVILLE, NC -- A Cumberland County mother says she found a bag of marijuana in her kindergartner's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle lunchbox when he brought it home from school.

The woman asked that we not identify her or her son, but said she went public to alert other parents.

"I asked if he knew what it was, and he was shocked and confused and he said 'no.' I said 'Did it come home in your lunchbox?'. He said 'I don't know how it got there,'" the woman told ABC11.

Mom said she's very thankful she found it and not school officials.

"They would not have believed a 5-year-old. Our kids are living in a different world," she said.

Deputies suspect an older student brought the pot to Alderman Road Elementary School, got scared, and put it in the lunchbox to get rid of it.

"I didn't know until today that kindergartners eat lunch beside 4th graders. You know, they know a lot of different things that you are not ready for your 5-year-old to be exposed to," said mom.

She wants teachers and parents to be on the alert.

"What I would tell my son today is before you zip up your lunch box, make sure it is all yours. If something looks strange, take it immediately to the teacher. And it was a good lesson for the teacher. Before the kids could leave school today, she checked their bags," said mom.