TOLEDO, OH (Toledo News Now) - The Toledo Police arrested three men over the weekend after discovering they were growing psychedelic drugs in their homes.
Toledo Police say the hallucinogenic mushrooms could have been deadly because it can be hard for a user to determine the dose being taken.
"At first I thought it was marijuana, but then when they told us it was mushrooms, it kind of blew my mind because I haven't heard of mushrooms being grown, or dried out, or whatever they were doing over there," said Sgt. Joe Heffernan with the Toledo Police.
On Sunday at 4 a.m. Toledo Police received a call from a payphone stating three males with guns had just broken into the side door at a residence located at 2454 Woodford. When crews arrived on scene, they found the side door forced open and entered to check the property.
No suspects were inside, but officers noticed a large mushroom-growing operation. Detectives from the Vice Unit responded to the scene and processed the evidence.
Evidence gathered led detectives to several other locations where further evidence was recovered:
- 456 Arden in Toledo
- 5910 Berkey Southern in Whitehouse
- 240 Eastern (upper and lower) in Toledo
- 1318 Camden in Toledo
Evidence from all of the locations is still being processed.
So far, Michael Stiles, 31, of Toledo, Matthew Thierry, 41, of Whitehouse, and Ian Golbinec, 31, of Toledo, have been charged with illegal cultivation, possession of drugs and trafficking drugs. Thierry and Golbinec have also been charged with tampering with evidence. More charges could come.
A total of 147 pounds of the mushrooms, worth $3.1 million was seized. Three trucks were needed to clear out the products and equipment used to make it.
Toledo Police Chief Derrick Diggs says this is the largest seizure of mushrooms in the state of Ohio.
"I didn't think mushrooms were still that much in demand here and based on the investigation of other types of narcotics activity, I would agree that there were other more different types of drugs that were concentrated on in this community so it is a little bit of a surprise that this type of drug plus the quantity that's going on there," said Diggs.
Authorities are trying to determine where the distribution took place, but believe all the homes busted were part of the same operation, which may be more than just local.
