NJ Man Busted After Federal Agents Intercept Psilocybin Mushrooms

A Brick Township man who allegedly ordered a sizable amount of psilocybin mushrooms and enough paraphernalia to maintain a drug operation got the attention of local, state, and federal agencies leading to his arrest and trip to the Ocean County Jail.

Brick Police said that an investigation began ten days ago when a U.S. Department of Homeland Security Special Agent got a heads up from a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Agent that they had intercepted a package from outside the country on its way to a home in Brick Township filled with psilocybin mushrooms.

The DHS Special Agent then phoned a call to Brick Police Street Crimes Unit Detectives and it led to a multi-agency search of the Mantoloking Road home along with the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office, U.S. Postal Service Agents, and the other aforementioned agencies on Tuesday afternoon around 12:20.

In the search of the mushroom-laced package, detectives found and seized "psilocybin mushrooms, Xanax pills, psilocybin tablets, marijuana, three firearms, a large amount of drug paraphernalia and packaging material, and tens of thousands of dollars of U.S, currency."

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In the home of 37-year-old Lucian Demarco, detectives found and seized "several forms of psilocybin mushrooms, psilocybin capsules, psilocybin grow kits, a quantity of marijuana packaged for resale, marijuana business promotional items included business cards, stickers, pens, magnets, and branded plastic bags, alprazolam pills, Harmine powder, and paperwork indicative of operating a drug maintenance and distribution facility."

In addition to all that, Demarco allegedly had several safes and he had a shotgun, a rifle, a handgun with an extended magazine, and a large amount of currency that was also found and removed from his residence.

The total tally of charges for his mushroom-drug operation and the weapons found plus all the paraphernalia equated to facing offenses for, "transporting/possession of property derived from criminal activity, possession of a large capacity ammunition magazine, maintaining/operating a controlled dangerous substance (CDS) facility, possession of CDS, manufacturing/distributing CDS, committing a drug offense while in possession of a firearm and paraphernalia and money laundering."

Brick Police said that following the search and arrest, Demarco was brought to and remains within the Ocean County Jail, pending a detention hearing.