Church kicks woman out in viral TikTok video, believing she had marijuana. It was oregano and cilantro

 

In a viral TikTok video, the Redemption United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, forced Ashley Ontiveros to leave after mistaking a bag of cilantro and oregano for marijuana.

The church is involved in a program with the Department of Corrections that allows inmates to attend service. The woman was there to see her sister, who is currently incarcerated and brought oregano and cilantro for her soup.

Sister station KOCO spoke with Ontiveros, but she didn’t want to be on camera.

She said that she brought menudo with all the fixings, such as onion, lime, cilantro and oregano in a plastic bag.

Ontiveros said that they refused to open the bag and smell the contents.

The church issued a statement about the video that stated, “The video clip that is being circulated around social media of an incident that occurred at Redemption Mission Penn Avenue in Oklahoma City on Nov. 14 is of a person who was upset because the staff did not allow her to give a bag of food to a family member who is an inmate attending church services.”

Ontiveros said she planned to eat the menudo with her sister at the church, as she has done before. She is also saying she is traumatized by what happened.

The church also said in a statement that “family members, visitors and guests are welcome to attend the services as well, but they are not allowed to give food items to the inmates to take back to correctional facilities”

The Department of Corrections confirmed to sister station KOCO that this is the policy.

Ontiveros and her sister do not want to go back to the church, she says. This was her only opportunity to see her sister.

Watch the full story in the video above.

Hearst Television