SCOTTSDALE, AZ — It was supposed to be a night out with family and friends at one of Arizona’s premiere golf destinations.
But after a surprising addition to their dinner menu, two families say their kids had to be rushed to the hospital.
At the time, their parents said they had no idea what was wrong with their children.
“I thought my daughter was dying,” said mother Amy Perrin. “People should know about this. This isn't something that should be happening.”
It’s a story that hasn’t been told, until now.
“Max is completely unresponsive. I start smacking him. I'm sitting on top of him, shaking him and he won't wake up. I'm opening his eyes and they're rolled back in his head,” mother Jeanne Bidner said while holding back tears as she relived the ordeal.
The incident occurred on Dec. 30, 2021, at Isabella’s Kitchen, one of the restaurants at Grayhawk Golf Club in north Scottsdale, according to a police report from the Scottsdale Police Department.
Perrin said later that evening, her 7-year-old daughter, Ripley, started feeling sick.
“She had thrown up all over the bed. She just was really unresponsive. Her eyes were open, but she just wasn’t there,” said Perrin.
Perrin said they called 911 and paramedics rushed Ripley to the hospital. At the time, she said she thought it was food poisoning.
Bidner said her 5-year-old son, Max, was admitted to the hospital the next day after he was unresponsive, and paramedics rushed him by ambulance from an Urgent Care.
“I just felt so helpless. And at this moment, I had no idea what it could be. What could have happened?” explained Bidner.
She took photos of her son, which showed Max passing out in his car seat, and then on a stretcher. At the hospital, Bidner said doctors ran test after test, trying to figure out what was wrong.
Hours later, she said the doctor came back with the surprising results.
“Pulled up a chair and he said, ‘Well, Max tested positive for marijuana.’ And I was, ‘How?’ I was with him all night. And he goes, ‘I don’t know. You tell me,’” Bidner said.
This is where both families said they started connecting the dots back to the vanilla gelato they were served at Isabella’s Kitchen.
“We figured out that it was the only thing that everyone who got sick had in common,” said Perrin.
Records show investigators later discovered employees at Isabella’s Kitchen unknowingly served their children vanilla Italian ice cream laced with THC, the active ingredient in marijuana.
Lab results from the Arizona Department of Agriculture confirmed the vanilla gelato officers collected as evidence from the restaurant tested positive for THC.
“Free scoop of gelato with every kid’s meal. Little did they tell you that they’re laced with marijuana,” Bidner said.
Both families pursue legal action
The Perrin and Bidner families are now suing the company that owned the restaurant at the time of this incident and the company that made the gelato.
“They serve on the children’s menu ... gelato that drugs your children. It’s outrageous,” said the family’s attorney, Michael Burg. “They had all the responsibility from the management of Grayhawk all the way down to the restaurant itself.”
One of the families is reported to DCS
On top of everything else, according to the lawsuit: “Per the hospital’s protocol, the Bidner parents were reported to Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS)” after doctors found a large amount of THC in her son Max’s system.
“It was unbelievable. I just felt like I was in an alternate universe,” said Bidner.
“They could have had their children taken away,” said Burg. “Our clients suffered serious damages.”
Scottsdale police investigation
Bidner said her husband immediately called the police after they had suspicions about the vanilla gelato they were served at the restaurant.
“When we kind of put the storyline together and they had said to him, you know, you’re not the only person to call us about this today,” she said.
According to the incident report from Scottsdale police, officers said they received an additional report from another person and later learned three restaurant employees had also become ill after eating the gelato that same evening.
The report said some of those employees said they were too high to drive. One of those employees was 13 weeks pregnant.
Amy Perrin and her husband Keith also ate the vanilla gelato and became ill, according to the lawsuit.
Jeanne Bidner said their 8-year-old daughter Zoe ate a portion of the vanilla gelato but then switched with her brother Max who had ordered the chocolate gelato.
“She took one bite and said, ‘This tastes funny. I'm not going to eat it.’ And Max said, ‘Oh, I'll switch you,’” said Bidner.
During their investigation, officers collected three tubs of vanilla bean gelato from the restaurant. This gelato would later test positive for THC.
“The Scottsdale Police Department did not file any charges with the state because the employees at the restaurant did not intend to harm anyone and it was done unknowingly,” the agency said in a statement.
“Somebody should be held accountable,” said Perrin.
According to the lawsuit, Heartbreak Creamery created and distributed the ice cream and did so “without a proper license.”
Scottsdale police pointed to the Arizona Department of Health Services for any potential charges against the person who made the gelato.
The health department pointed back to the police.
“ADHS worked with law enforcement, Maricopa County Environmental Services, and the Department of Agriculture on this issue; however, there are no legal enforcement actions that can be taken by ADHS against an unlicensed facility infusing food products with marijuana (THC) at this time,” said Dr. Eugene Livar, assistant director for Public Health Preparedness, in a written statement. “This would be considered illegal under both statutes and rules sets and can be addressed by the local police department as any other illegal substance."
Scottsdale police said they had no additional information to add after ABC15 asked again about potential charges involving the gelato owner.
“If you’re the police and you investigate a situation where drugs were illegally given to children, then the person that did that should be held accountable. Period,” said Bidner.
The only agency that took action was the Department of Agriculture. According to a departmental report, it issued a criminal citation to the gelato owner for operating without a proper dairy license.
But to date, no government agency has handed out any consequence for serving children gelato infused with marijuana (THC).
“I don’t think that you should be able to drug someone’s child and not have to pay some consequence,” said Perrin.
“Max still talks about the visions he had during that time. They have this terrible black cloud over this experience,” said Bidner.
Gelato owner, Grayhawk’s response
ABC15 made multiple attempts to reach the gelato owner without any response.
Grayhawk Golf Club, which owns and operates Isabella’s Kitchen, was sold to Arcis Golf in June 2023, approximately a year and a half after the incident.
The new owners called this a regrettable incident, which happened well before its purchase.
“At the time of the incident, the then-owners immediately terminated the vendor and cooperated with all agencies doing the investigation. Since our purchase, we have made additional improvements in this area,” Arcis Golf added in a statement.
ABC15 reached out to the previous owners, Pacific Life Insurance, and the company said it does not comment on pending litigation.
“They haven't been held accountable yet. They have to be held accountable. So, this never happens to anybody else,” said Burg.
Read the full statement from Arcis Golf, the new owners of Grayhawk below:
We are aware of the regrettable incident in 2021, which took place well prior to Arcis Golf’s purchase of Grayhawk Golf Club in June 2023.
At the time of the incident, the then-owners immediately terminated the vendor and cooperated with all agencies doing the investigation. Since our purchase, we have made additional improvements in this area.
Grayhawk always had, and continues to have, stellar health inspections and maintains their food services areas to extremely high standards. In fact, Grayhawk’s food permits were recently renewed after a thorough inspection by the Maricopa County Health Department.
