A Guatemalan drug pusher who dealt gummies to Long Island kids was cut loose with no bail – then caught trying to escape justice by running to Canada, authorities said Thursday.
Wilmer Castillo Garcia, 22, was busted in August 2025 for selling cocaine to an undercover cop and pushing pot gummies to William Floyd Middle School students, with 12 of the kids ending up in the hospital but he was set free because of the state’s “broken” bail laws, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said.
The alleged dealer promptly fled Long Island but was busted at the US’s northern border in October 2025, according to the DA.
“This defendant allegedly sold drugs to an undercover officer and is also allegedly connected to the hospitalization of multiple school children — yet, our prosecutors had no legal mechanism to ask for the court to set bail,” Tierney said in statement.
Garcia had been charged with four felonies and two misdemeanors, but Judge Anthony Senft Jr. released Garcia at his arraignment that same month because the charges are not eligible for bail under the state’s controversial criminal justice reforms.
The pusher was arrested by the Canada Border Services Agency during his attempt to enter the country, and handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement that same day to be processed for deportation.
But he was instead returned to Suffolk County at Tierney’s request, with the DA saying deporting Garcia would be allowing him to dodge prosecution.
“Luckily, the defendant was allegedly caught while attempting to flee across the border into Canada,” Tierney said, thanking the Canadian border agents “for ensuring [Garcia] will face justice.”
Garcia’s immigration status wasn’t immediately known and it was unclear if he had emigrated to the US or visited legally.
Back in March 2025, 12 students from William Floyd Middle School in Moriches were all brought to Peconic Bay Hospital on the same day after falling ill from THC gummies they’d gotten from a fellow student — which investigators discovered they purchased from an Instagram account, “@7k_teddy,” which prosecutors said is allegedly operated by Garcia.
After police made the link, they set up two separate sting-deals in May where Garcia allegedly sold both cocaine and weed to an undercover cop.
“We cannot even ask for reasonable security on a foreign national who allegedly provided THC gummies that sickened middle-schoolers to ensure he faces justice,” Tierney said at the time of his release.
Garcia is now being held at Suffolk County Correctional Facility in Riverhead and is due back in court May 19.
He faces up to nine years in prison if convicted on the top count.
A spokesperson from the Office of Court Administration, which oversees state courts, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.