Three North County residents are accused of utilizing children to help grow and distribute psilocybin mushrooms, according to a San Diego federal grand jury indictment.
Prosecutors say a 9- and 11-year-old helped the defendants cultivate, produce and sell mushrooms allegedly harvested at a pair of locations in Fallbrook and Bonsall. Psilocybin mushrooms have hallucinogenic properties when ingested and remain illegal under California and federal law.
Married couple Randal Vance, 42, of Fallbrook, and Rebecca Vance, 41, of Oceanside, face various drug trafficking charges along with Keir Ceballos-Rivera, 33, of Oceanside. Prosecutors allege the defendants also attempted to destroy evidence by deleting text messages and taking down websites that Randal Vance used to sell the drugs.
All three were arrested Wednesday. The U.S. Attorney’s Office did not disclose the relationship between the defendants and the children.
Prosecutors said that in messages, Randal Vance described the childrens’ roles in the drug conspiracy.
Vance allegedly once texted someone a photograph of one of the children holding a mushroom and said the “11-year-old helps me grow them.”
Ceballos-Rivera also allegedly sent Vance a picture of a child holding a mushroom while the child’s face was covered and wrote, “No face, no case.”
One of the children, then a middle-school student, told Vance he was selling a psilocybin capsule to a friend for $3, to which Vance said, “Nice! Make sure your friend’s parents don’t find out or you and I are in big big trouble.”
He also allegedly discussed providing microdoses of psilocybin to children, including the 9-year-old, saying “It’s good for kids’ brains.”
A judge ordered the Vances held without bond on Thursday, while Ceballos-Rivera is due in court for a detention hearing next week.
