UPDATE

12/22 3:00PM: A detective for the Harrison Township Police Department tells us he is in contact with Target and they are working on getting the information as to where the package originated from and who was tasked with delivering it. The case is still an active investigation.

12/21 4:20 PM: A rep for Target tells us "We're aware of the situation and take allegations like this seriously. Once this claim was brought to our attention, we conducted an investigation and reviewed the security video from the store where the items were shipped. After a full review, we don't believe the item was put into the package at a Target store, and instead was added after it left our facility. However, we’ve been in contact with the guest and refunded her for the full purchase."

A mother of two from New Jersey received a very unexpected item inside a shipment of children's clothes she'd ordered from Target: a broken, used crack pipe.

Michel Verdi Krymis tells The Blast her sister Toni received a shipment of winter clothes she'd purchased for her three and five-year-old children on December 9. "When she opened the box, with her kids next to her, the clothes weren't even folded, just thrown in there," Michel tells The Blast. She said that Toni "started taking everything out of the box when a crack pipe mixed in with the clothes fell onto the floor."



TheBlast.com

We're told Toni immediately filed a police report and called Target's customer service that day.

A spokesperson for Harrison Township Police Department tells The Blast they recovered the crack pipe from Toni's home. We're told because Toni received it via mail, it is currently being investigated as a suspicious incident.

Michel says the customer service operator for Target was entirely unhelpful, telling us, "They asked my sister if she had ordered the crack pipe on Target.com and told her they couldn't help her."

The following day, Toni called Target again and spoke with a manager who told her he'd received her complaint and explained that the operator thought she was complaining about a "cracked plate" and not a "crack pipe."

Toni asked if she could exchange the children's clothes, which she bought on sale, for ones that had not been exposed to crack. We're told the manager refused to honor the sale price, as it was no longer in effect, and instructed her to box up the items and leave them outside for pick-up.

"The manager told her she can re-order the clothes at the regular price. It's not a huge difference, but she's a working mom with two kids and the price difference is significant enough," Michel says.

It's been two weeks since the incident occurred and Michel thinks it's ridiculous her sister hasn't even received an apology, despite numerous unreturned calls to Target's corporate office looking for answers.