6/8/11 Psilocybin mushroom drug ring busted

  • By Nick Sabo
  • June 8, 2011
  • 330
                        
SUMMARY: Wooster jewelry store was selling hallucinatory mushrooms by the ounce Agents with Medway Drug Enforcement Agency made purchases of psychedelic mushrooms from a Wooster jewelry store while investigating a sophisticated grow and distribution drug network. Medway, assisted by numerous local, state and federal agencies, arrested five individuals Monday June 6 and recovered mature psilocybin mushrooms and spores with a combined potential street value of $150,000. The raid included search warrants executed at Bert’s Jewelry, 2991 Cleveland Road, Wooster, where store owner Bert D. Underwood, 58, 692 Greenwood Boulevard, Wooster, was allegedly selling the mushrooms across the counter. Medway Senior Agent Don Hall said agents were able to coordinate buys of dried psilocybins from Underwood at the store by the ounce. “You basically have a legitimate business where he’s selling jewelry and you can also buy psilocybins there,” Hall said. Underwood was arrested Monday on a charge of cultivation of psilocybin within the vicinity of a school, a first degree felony carrying up to 10 years in prison. He is held at the Wayne County Jail on a $100,000 bond. Also arrested were Brian K. Brown, 44, and Ilene M. Bennett, 67, both of 7040 Cleveland Road, Wooster, on charges of cultivation of psilocybin mushrooms; Justin R. Graham, 27, 140 N. Main St., Creston, on charges of trafficking in heroin and trafficking in crack cocaine; Shannon M. Yeagley, 29, 3669 E. Sterling Road, Creston, on a charge of trafficking in crack cocaine. The arrests come at the close of a six month investigation. Trays of growing psilocybins were recovered from Yeagley’s residence. Bennett is Brown’s mother, Hall said. Brown is being held on a $250,000 bond. According to Hall, Brown introduced the other suspects to psilocybin cultivation, after which they appear to have “split off on their own”, Hall said. Hall said most of the mushrooms were being sold to buyers outside of the county. “These people are very tight knit,” Hall said. “They’re only selling to a small number of people locally. They were growing large quantities and shipping them elsewhere. It took a lot of hard work for us to get into this” drug ring, Hall said. Psilocybins have a hallucinatory effect similar to LSD when ingested. The mushrooms sell for about $125 - $150 an ounce, Hall said. The suspects were also allegedly selling the dried mushrooms in chocolate cakes the size of a hockey puck for “between $12 - $20”, Hall said. Each cake contained about three grams of chopped psilocybins. Psilocybin spores are incubated in glass jars before they are transferred to baking trays to finish growing, Hall said. The spores to grow the mushrooms were purchased legitimately on-line from a supplier in Kentucky, Hall said. Monday’s raid, code-named Operation Shroom Hunt, turned up 57 trays of growing mushrooms and 110 glass jars in the incubation stage. Dried psilocybins were recovered from Underwood’s store, and grow operations were underway at the residences occupied by Yeagley, Underwood, and Brown. Several assault rifles, handguns and ammunition were recovered from Underwood’s vehicle, store and residence, Hall said. Underwood was armed with a handgun at the time of his arrest. Underwood has a valid concealed-carry permit, Hall said. Medway Director Dave Smith said more charges are expected as the evidence is processed and investigation continues. Agencies participating in Operation Shroom Hunt included the Federal Drug Enforcement Administration, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification, Wayne and Ashland County sheriff’s offices, and officers with Brunswick, Creston, Doylestown, Millersburg, Orrville, Rittman, Shreve and Smithville police departments.


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