After Guests Fall Ill at Wedding, Bride and Caterer Are Arrested

Affidavits say the two laced the reception food with marijuana
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 21, 2022 8:52 AM CDT
Updated Apr 24, 2022 7:00 AM CDT
Florida Bride, Caterer Allegedly Laced Food With Marijuana
Stock photo of a (drug-free, we think) wedding reception.   (Getty Images)

Feeling joyous and elated at a wedding is one thing. Feeling "weird, tingly, fidgety, and had an extremely dry mouth" is another. That's how one guest at a Feb. 19 wedding reception in Longwood, Fla., described feeling, and police allege it's because the food was laced with drugs. Bride Danya Svoboda, 42, and caterer Joycelyn Bryant, 31, have been arrested and face charges of tampering, culpable negligence, and delivery of marijuana, reports FOX 35 Orlando. It reports deputies were called to the Springs Clubhouse by a guest who said he felt as if he "had drugs inside him" after partaking in the food and wine. Another told police he felt "ill and high."

A number of guests (some 50 were said to attend) were transported to South Seminole Hospital. CNN cites affidavits that say three guests' urine tests were positive for marijuana and lab tests confirmed lasagna taken from the wedding contained cannabis. Per one affidavit, Svoboda allegedly "agreed to and allowed Joycelyn Montrinice Bryant to lace the food she served ... with cannabis unbeknownst to the attendees, many of whom became very ill and required medical attention." The affidavits do not give a motive, though the Washington Post reports they state that one guest who allegedly asked the bride if the food had been laced with pot got a "yes" from a smiling Danya Svoboda, who was behaving as if that was a "gift."

Some of the stories to emerge from wedding guests are wild. The Washington Post reports Miranda Cady felt like her heart was going to give out after eating bread and olive oil. It reports, "She went to her car and was so terrified she would die there, she sent herself a text so people would know what had happened to her." CNN reports another woman told an investigator she became so paranoid she "believed her husband ... wasn't telling her the truth about other family members," and that her son-in-law had died and that fact was being kept from her. (More strange stuff stories.)

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