A multi-agency investigation between federal and local law enforcement officials resulted in the seizure of 250 pounds of psychedelic mushrooms from a grow house in Sheepshead Bay yesterday, acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez announced in a press release.
Detectives who raided a house on East 13th Street in Sheesphead Bay found over 200 pounds of psylocybin mushrooms, over $30,000 in cash, more than 300 gift cards and an ounce of pot. In a second house, on East 11th Street, police seized over 50 pounds of mushrooms and $400 in cash.
The NYPD worked with the Drug Enforcement Agency, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the New York State police on the investigation, which resulted in the arrest of three men. Vitali Yaromin, 50, of East 13th Street in Sheepshead Bay; Nikita Medvedev, 26, of Staten Island; and Maksym Lyushnenko, 47, of East 11th Street in Sheepshead Bay have all been charged with second- and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and second-degree criminally using drug paraphernalia.
"These individuals grew mind-altering mushrooms right in our own backyard of Brooklyn. At a few hundred dollars an ounce, this was no small business. But they were hallucinating on their own product if they had thought they could hide from the law," ICE Special Agent Angel Melendez said in a statement.
Police put the street value of the seizure at almost $2 million, but did not say whether the mushrooms would work better at a laser light show or at a Phish show.
