Mt. Orab drug investigation leads to large seizure of mushrooms

by Aaron Gibson, March 2, 2016

A Brown County grand jury indicted a man on Thursday, Feb. 25 accused of trafficking in a large volume of hallucinogenic mushrooms after a significant seizure of the substance was made near Mt. Orab.

Geoffrey Allen Davies, age 20 of Maysville, Kentucky, was indicted on one count each of aggravated trafficking in drugs and aggravated possession of drugs, both second-degree felonies.

According to prosecutors, on the morning of Nov. 29, 2015, law enforcement seized during a drug investigation approximately 199 grams of hallucinogenic mushrooms and other items consistent with drug trafficking, including empty baggies and digital scales.

First Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Zac Corbin says the investigation began with a call to law enforcement regarding a vehicle parked along Nixon Road, Sterling Township with three sleeping occupants.

“You’ve got three young men . . . They apparently thought it was a good idea to pull off on a side of a road and take a nap at 9 o’clock in the morning,” Corbin said.

According to Corbin, after waking up the driver, officers noticed the odor of burnt marijuana and a finished marijuana cigar in an ashtray. Law enforcement then conducted a probable cause search of the vehicle, finding 199 grams of mushrooms and drug paraphernalia in a backpack on the driver’s side floorboard.

Davies, the driver of the vehicle, allegedly admitted the backpack and contents inside of the bag belonged to him, Corbin said.

Under the Ohio Revised Code, the compounds psilocin and psilocybin found in hallucinogenic mushrooms are classified as Schedule I controlled substances. The Ohio Revised Code considers the bulk amount of hallucinogenic mushrooms to be thirty grams or more.

In the indictment against Davies, it is alleged he possessed and trafficked in an amount of hallucinogenic mushrooms exceeding five times the bulk amount per the Ohio Revised Code.

“We investigate it all, and what you find is what you find,” Corbin said, “and I think taking any drug off the streets is a good thing for Brown County.”

As of March 2, Davies has not been arrested in connection with the drug investigation and is still at large.

—Brown County Crime Reporter, March 2, 2016 4:03 PM EST

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