SOMERVILLE — After a golf event at a country club in Hunterdon County last summer, a Branchburg Township man claims in a recent lawsuit that he was tricked by club members into eating a brownie laced with marijuana and later became ill.

Barry Russo is suing members James Kavanagh, Jr. and Gregg Chaplin for allegedly offering him the brownie on June 1 in the locker room at the Copper Hill Country Club in Raritan Township, according to a complaint filed Dec. 31 in state Superior Court.

Also named as defendants in the lawsuit are the country club and James MacDonald, identified in the complaint as the club president at the time of the alleged incident. MacDonald allegedly failed to get medical assistance for Russo, the complaint states.

MacDonald, a Raritan Township resident, said today he was unaware of the lawsuit and declined further comment. "If there’s one filed, I guess we’ll get served eventually and we’ll have to take a look at it," MacDonald said in a phone interview. "I don’t want to comment on anything."

Chaplin, also a township resident, said by phone today that Russo’s allegations were "the farthest thing from the truth."

"That’s totally untrue. There’s no truth whatsover in that," Chaplin said. "That’s the most bizarre thing I ever heard."

Kavanagh, a Westampton Township resident, also said by phone that the allegations were false, but declined further comment. "I’m caught off guard with this," he said.

A message left with the club’s business office was not returned today.

Christian McOmber, the attorney representing Russo, declined to comment. Russo is described in the lawsuit as a "68 year old diabetic with high blood pressure and a previous history of a lacunar infarct stroke."

According to the lawsuit, Russo was in the locker room after a golf event at the club when Kavanagh and Chaplin offered him the brownie. Kavanagh and Chaplin insisted the brownies were delicious and that Kavanagh, who baked them, had received "special culinary training," according to the complaint.

Russo initially declined, but then "politely accepted" and ate a brownie, according to the complaint. Russo didn’t know the brownie was laced with marijuana, the complaint states.

The lawsuit alleges that Kavanagh and Chaplin "were fully aware that brownie was laced with marijuana and intentionally deceived Plaintiff in order to poison him." Kavanagh later admitted to Russo that the brownie contained marijuana, according to the complaint.

Afterward, Russo felt like he was having another stroke, the complaint states.

He began to feel light-headed, anxious and dizzy, according to the lawsuit. He also felt his blood pressure begin to rise, and numbness and tingling in certain parts of his body, according to the lawsuit. Russo told MacDonald about his symptoms and asked him to get medical help, according to the lawsuit.

MacDonald agreed to summon medical assistance, but failed to do so, according to the complaint. Instead, MacDonald walked Russo to the front porch of the club to "intentionally conceal" the alleged incident from club members and guests, and thus deprived Russo of timely medical care, the complaint states.

As Russo was being escorted to the front entrance, he called out to a club member with emergency medical experience, who determined Russo was in serious medical distress and immediately summoned an ambulance, the complaint states.

At the hospital, Russo’s urine tested positive for Tetrahydrocannabinol, which is the active chemical in marijuana, according to the lawsuit.



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