OC Parents React To News OF Flutes Tainted With Bodily Fluids, LA School Likely Affected
FOUNTAIN VALLEY (CBSLA.com) — Parents said they were shocked and disgusted Saturday when asked about the investigation into musical instruments given to children, which might have been contaminated with a man's bodily fluids.
It was revealed Friday that the California Department of Justice and the United States Postal Service were looking into flutes that might have been tainted by a man whom authorities have not yet named. It is still not clear what criminal charges the man would face.
Concerned parent Tudy Balta returned two of the decorated PVC pipes converted into flutes to the Fountain Valley Police Department.
"My kids have brought these flutes home. They're putting their mouths on it, and they're playing with these instruments," she told CBS2 News. "And for someone to contaminate it with their bodily fluids, that's disgusting. My kids could've gotten sick."
This news broke after Fountain Valley School District Superintendent Mark Johnson sent an email to parents explaining the situation, which goes back to June 2017.
The flutes were part of the program Flutes Across the World, which gave the instruments to children at schools all over Southern California.
Los Angeles Unified School District officials said flutes were given out at one of their schools but would not say which school or how many children were affected.
"For me it's really concerning for me, as a parent, because I don't know if like three months down the line, if they're going to get sick," another parent told CBS2.
Katrina Leiva said that when she asked her child what the man who gave him the flute was like, he said, "Weird, completely weird. Gave me the creeps." So "weird," in fact, that even her son's teacher was put off by the man.
CBS2 reached out to Flutes Across the World but had not received a response Saturday.
The schools named that might have been affected are Courreges Elementary School in Fountain Valley and Sonora Elementary School in Costa Mesa.
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