Sigh…the level of people’s stupidity and nastiness is beyond staggering
A man accused of using 9- and 11-year-olds to harvest psilocybin sent a photo of one of them holding a “large” hallucinogenic mushroom, writing that the child “cultivates and microdoses,” federal prosecutors said. “It’s good for kids’ brains,” Randal Vance wrote in the same message to another person involved in the drug trafficking scheme, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California. Randal Vance told customers that children helped produce the hallucinogens at two locations in San Diego County, where authorities found more than 250 pounds of fresh and dried psilocybin mushrooms, as well as an estimated 40 pounds of psilocybin chocolate bars, in October, prosecutors said at a March 20 hearing. Randal Vance, 42, of Fallbrook; his wife, Rebecca Vance, 41, of Oceanside; and Randal Vance’s friend, Keir Ceballos-Rivera, 33, also of Oceanside, were arrested March 19 on federal drug trafficking charges, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a March 20 news release. Attorney information for the Vances and Ceballos-Rivera wasn’t immediately available the morning of March 21. According to prosecutors, children were put to work at two sites in Fallbrook and Bonsall, where local law enforcement also found substrate and equipment meant for harvesting psilocybin, also known as “magic mushrooms,” on Oct. 4. Psilocybin can alter a person’s perception of reality and distort the senses, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Additionally, authorities discovered psilocybin capsules, molds for chocolate bars and six unsecured guns kept by Randal Vance at the Bonsall location, prosecutors said. The weapons were seized.
Following his arrest, Randal Vance, his wife and Ceballos-Rivera tried to destroy evidence, prosecutors said. They’re accused of deleting text messages and shutting down websites Randal Vance used to distribute psychedelic mushrooms. During the March 20 hearing, prosecutors detailed some of the messages and discussions. Randal Vance bragged about giving children microdoses of psilocybin and encouraged other people to do the same, prosecutors said. On Oct. 13, 2023, when Randal Vance messaged a co-conspirator about an 11-year-old cultivating and microdosing mushrooms, he also mentioned a 9-year-old child, according to prosecutors. “Yeah I usually do a half dose of microdose capsules for them,” Randal Vance said about the children, prosecutors said. “.05 every other day for them. It’s such a difference too.” On May 31, one child, who was a student at Lincoln Middle School in Oceanside, told Randal Vance that “he was selling a psilocybin capsule to a friend for $3,” prosecutors said.
Read more at: https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/nation-world/national/article302506444.html#storylink=cpy
North County Residents Indicted for Using Children to Manufacture and Distribute Hallucinogenic Drugs
SAN DIEGO – Randal Vance and his longtime friend, Keir Ceballos-Rivera, were indicted by a federal grand jury on charges that they employed children to help them cultivate, produce and distribute psilocybin mushrooms at locations in Fallbrook and Bonsall.
Also indicted was Rebecca Vance, wife of Randal Vance. The trio made their initial appearances in federal court today on an array of federal drug-trafficking charges. Randal Vance and Ceballos are charged with conspiring to use and employ minors to produce a controlled substance; all defendants are charged with conspiring to distribute a controlled substance and conspiring to obstruct justice by destroying evidence; and Randal Vance is charged with distributing a controlled substance to minors and possessing firearms in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime.
At today’s hearing, prosecutors told the court the children were 9 and 11 when the alleged conspiracy to harvest psilocybin at the locations on Ash Street in Fallbrook and Lilac Road in Bonsall began. Psilocybin mushrooms are a controlled substance that act as hallucinogenic drugs, inducing altered states of consciousness and vivid sensory experiences.
All three defendants were arrested yesterday. At today’s hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Valerie E. Torres granted the government’s request that Randal and Rebecca Vance be detained without bond because they are a flight risk. A detention hearing for Ceballos-Rivera is set for March 25, 2025.
The United States told the Court that Randal Vance informed customers and co-conspirators that the minors assisted him in producing psilocybin. For example, on or about October 18, 2023, Vance texted a photograph of one of the minors holding a large psilocybin mushroom in front of his face at the Ash Street location and said that the “11 year old helps me grow them.”
One of the minors informed Randal Vance on May 31, 2024, that he was selling a psilocybin capsule to a friend for $3. At the time, the boy was a student at Lincoln Middle School in Oceanside. Randal Vance responded: “Nice! Make sure your friend’s parents don’t find out or you and I are in big big trouble.”
Randal Vance boasted of dosing the children with psilocybin and advised others to do likewise, the indictment said. For example, on or about October 13, 2023, Randal Vance messaged a co-conspirator a photo of one of the minors holding a large psilocybin mushroom and stated that an 11-year old “cultivates and microdoses. It’s good for kids’ brains.” Later in the conversation, Randal Vance identified the other minor as nine years old and said, “Yeah I usually do a half dose of microdose capsules for them” and “.05 every other day for them. It’s such a difference too.”
Ceballos-Rivera sent Randal Vance a photograph of another child at the Ash Street location holding a large psilocybin mushroom and covering part of his/her face on or about September 7, 2024. Ceballos-Rivera wrote: “From earlier today haha” and “‘No face, no case.’”
Randal Vance is also charged with illegally possessing a Glock 34 pistol, a Walther P22 pistol, a Henry Survival AR7 rifle, a Smith and Wesson revolver, an H&R Model 900 revolver, and a Browning 30-06 rifle in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense.
On October 4, 2024, law enforcement executed search warrants on the Fallbrook and Bonsall locations. At the Ash Street location, law enforcement recovered approximately 204 pounds of fresh psilocybin mushrooms, 53 pounds of dried psilocybin mushrooms, 35 pounds of psilocybin chocolate bars, 18 pounds of inoculated substrate to grow psilocybin mushrooms, and equipment used to grow, harvest, and process psilocybin mushrooms.
At the Lilac Road location, law enforcement recovered approximately 25 pounds of dried psilocybin mushrooms, five pounds of psilocybin chocolates, and five pounds of psilocybin capsules, as well as molds used to make the psilocybin chocolate bars.
Law enforcement officials also seized six firearms from the Lilac Road location: a Glock 34 pistol, a Walther P22 pistol, a Henry Survival AR7 rifle, a Smith and Wesson revolver, an H&R Model 900 revolver, and a Browning 30-06 rifle. None of the firearms were locked up, and loaded magazines were found next to the Glock 34 and Walther P22.
Randal Vance was arrested that day. Prior to his federal arrest, he was out on bond pending state charges. After Randal Vance’s arrest by local law enforcement, the defendants are alleged to have conspired together to destroy evidence by deleting phone messages and taking down websites Randal Vance had used to distribute psilocybin.
This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Paul Benjamin and Dana Segal.
If you are concerned that your child may have been exposed to illegal drugs as a result of the activities alleged in this case, please contact the DEA at https://www.dea.gov/submit-tip.
DEFENDANTS Case Number 25-CR-817-RSH
Randal Vance Age: 42 Fallbrook, CA
Rebecca Vance Age: 41 Oceanside, CA
Keir Ceballos-Rivera Age: 33 Oceanside, CA
SUMMARY OF CHARGES
Conspiracy to Employ or Use Minors to Violate the Controlled Substances Act – Title 21, U.S.C., Sections 841, 846, and 861(a)
Maximum penalty: Mandatory minimum one year to 40 years in prison
Conspiracy to Distribute a Controlled Substance- – Title 21, U.S.C., Sections 841 and 846
Maximum penalty: Twenty years in prison
Distribution of a Controlled Substance to Minors– Title 21, U.S.C., Section 859(a)
Maximum penalty: Mandatory minimum one year to 40 years in prison
Possession of a Firearm in Furtherance of a Drug Trafficking Offense- – Title 18, U.S.C., Section 924(c)
Maximum penalty: Mandatory minimum five years to life in prison
Conspiracy to Obstruct Justice- – Title 18, U.S.C., Sections 1503(a), (b)(3), and 371
Maximum penalty: Ten years in prison
INVESTIGATING AGENCIES
Drug Enforcement Administration
San Diego Sheriff’s Department
*The charges and allegations contained in an indictment or complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are considered innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Kelly Thornton, Director of Media Relations
