Second Michigan man sentenced in hallucinogenic mushroom importing case

Friday, April 16, 2004

ASSOCIATED PRESS

LANSING -- The second of two men who pleaded guilty in a scheme to import hallucinogenic mushrooms from Europe was sentenced Friday to three months in prison.

U.S. District Judge David W. McKeague also ordered Jerry Ray Bowman II to spend three years on probation following his release from prison, and fined him $2,000.

Bowman, 22, of Macomb County's Clinton Township, pleaded guilty in December to conspiracy to import a controlled substance, admitting that he used the Internet and wire transfers to obtain about 30 pounds of hallucinogenic mushrooms.

McKeague dismissed two counts of using communications equipment to commit conspiracy, the judge's office said.

Co-defendant Zachary Konopka, 21, of Sterling Heights, also pleaded guilty in December to using wire transfers to import the mushrooms, which have an hallucinogenic effect similar to LSD. He was sentenced March 22 to two months in prison and a year of probation, including two months on an electronic tether.

Detroit Free Press. (DFREEP)

Agents of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and local law enforcement arrested Jerry Ray Bowman, a recent graduate of Grand Valley State University and former Fraser High School swim team member, along with Zachary Jarrod Konopka, a Western Michigan University student and Sterling Heights resident, about two weeks ago.

They have since been arraigned on several charges at U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids. If convicted as charged, they could face a maximum of 20 years in prison.

"I think it's possible that they knew each other from before" in their high school days in Macomb County, said an agent in the DEA's Grand Rapids' offices, who asked not to be identified. "It was apparent in the investigation there was a common link between them."

An investigation was launched in June 21, 2002, when Bowman was still an undergraduate student at Grand Valley and Konopka was a student at Western, after U.S. Customs Inspectors seized three packages from the Netherlands containing roughly six pounds of psilocybin mushrooms.

The mushrooms, which contain psilocybin and psilocin and act as a hallucinogen, were addressed for shipment to Fraser, Portage and Cannonsburg, Mich.

Now Konopka and Bowman are accused of conspiring with "others unnamed" to deliver and distribute the drug. At least 100 people in 26 states allegedly did business with the same shipping sources in Europe, and it's unclear if others in this country or abroad may be charged soon.

"It depends. But that's a possibility we're looking at," said John Bruha, an assistant U.S. Attorney in western Michigan assigned to the case. "The investigation is still continuing at this point."

Officials allege that Bowman had established an e-mail account as a point of contact for drug buyers looking to obtain mushrooms. From the fall of 2000 until July 2002, Bowman and Konopka allegedly used e-mail accounts to order the drug, which they would then receive in the United States and distribute to consumers as "middlemen."

The mushrooms, generally eaten or reduced to powder, induce hallucination and distorted psychological effects that generally wear off within six hours - a less potent "trip" or experience than taking LSD.

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Spores detected in Michigan syringes
January 2005

SUSPECTED PSILOCYBE MUSHROOM SPORES IN DETROIT, MICHIGAN

The DEA North Central Laboratory (Chicago, Illinois) recently received three glass vials containing a clear solution, suspected Psilocybe mushroom spores in water. The exhibits were originally contained in three syringes, and were purchased in Detroit, Michigan by agents from the DEA Detroit Division (details withheld in accordance with Microgram policy). The total net weight and volume of the samples was 35.9 grams (40.0 milliliters).
A growth cycle was initiated for all three samples in order to determine whether or not Psilocybe mushrooms could be produced. A standard underground procedure was used (obtained from an Internet site; details withheld in accordance with Microgram policy). Mycelium growth was observed after about 3 weeks; however, only two small mushrooms grew (which were harvested after 78 days). Analysis of methanolic extracts of the two mushrooms by GC/MS indicated no controlled substances, suggesting that the mushrooms were not Psilocybe mushrooms. It is unclear whether the sale was a scam, or if the solution was contaminated during the transfer from the syringes to the vials, or if there was some other unknown problem with the solution or cultivation procedures. This is the first time that a mushroom grow has been performed at the North Central Laboratory.