DUBOIS – A DuBois couple is facing felony charges for allegedly giving a 10-year-old boy marijuana.
Joesy E. Gindlesperger, 30, is charged with felony endangering the welfare of children and misdemeanor corruption of minors.
Franky Alan Crandell, 34, is charged with felony endangering the welfare of children, misdemeanor corruption of minors and misdemeanor distributing small amount of marijuana/not for sale.
Both waived their rights to preliminary hearings Friday during centralized court, sending the cases onto the court of common pleas. They are free on $5,000, unsecured bail, for each of them.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, on Feb. 7, DuBois City police received a report from the father of a 10-year-old boy and a four-year-old boy that Gindlesperger and her fiancé were giving the boys marijuana.
The father did an in-home drug test on them, which was positive for marijuana before he took them to Penn Highlands for a blood test. The hospital tests revealed the older boy was positive for cannabinoids but the other was negative.
In an interview with investigators, Gindlesperger explained that her 10-year-old son smoked marijuana and consumed marijuana gummies with Crandell because he has ADHD and did not like taking his regular mediation.
She said the couple “looked up information on the benefits of medical marijuana” and thought it could help him. She made an appointment with a doctor to see if the boy could get a medical marijuana card, she stated.
Gindlesperger also claimed the father knew about this and agreed to it. She added that he had even observed their son consuming it.
She estimated the boy and Crandell had used marijuana two or three times between October 2022 and February.
When Crandell was questioned, he also stated both parents had agreed for him to provide the boy with marijuana products.
Because the child had trouble smoking it, Crandell said he gave him edible gummies containing THC. He stated that he provided the child with gummies about 12 times during a three-month period.
Crandell explained he bought the products legally in Michigan and brought them back to Pennsylvania, according to the criminal complaint.
The victim told officials at the Child Advocacy Center that he smoked marijuana from a glass bowl, a blunt and he also vaped it.
He mentioned that other family members were present as he was doing this, but that he never smoked marijuana while his father was present. His father only recently discovered his marijuana use, he stated.
