El Paso police narcotics investigators arrested an accused drug dealer allegedly selling LSD and psychedelic mushrooms after raiding his parents’ Northeast home last week.
Luciano Deon Gomez is accused of selling LSD and psilocybin mushrooms on at least five occasions since May during a drug investigation, an assistant district attorney said at a detention hearing over the weekend.
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The most recent deal was the sale of 10 units of LSD for $60 at a July 25 meetup at the Rushfair retail area at Rushing Road and Fairbanks Drive in Northeast El Paso, Assistant District Attorney Jennifer VandenBosch said during a teleconference bond hearing on Sunday, Aug. 4.
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At noon on Thursday, Aug. 1, investigators served a search warrant at a home where Gomez resides with his parents in the 10300 block of Kellogg Street, VandenBosch said.
Gomez’s father and stepmother are both deaf, Edward Hernandez, a deputy public defense attorney, noted during the hearing seeking a lower bond amount.
The prosecutor said that Gomez was driving away as officers were approaching the house. Another set of officers followed Gomez and arrested him after a traffic stop, where the smell of marijuana was detected and a plastic bag with marijuana was found.
In a bedroom at the house, investigators with a drug-sniffing dog found a small plastic bag with MDMA (Ecstasy), more than 230 LSD doses, a marijuana joint and three vacuum-sealed bags of psilocybin mushrooms, VandenBosch said.
Gomez was arrested on seven charges of manufacture/delivery of a controlled substance and two counts of drug and marijuana possession.
Gomez was originally booked on a bonds totaling $72,500, but at Sunday’s hearing, Magistrate Judge Ruben Nuñez lowered the total bond to $22,500. As of Monday, Gomez remained at the El Paso County Jail Downtown.
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LSD, also known as “acid” and “lucy,” is a powerful hallucinogen popular in the 1960s hippie counterculture that has the potential to cause psychological harm, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration reports. LSD is often sold in the form of small squares from soaked “blotter” paper with colorful designs.
The use of hallucinogens has been on the increase nationally in the last five years, including the use of “magic mushrooms” for mental health treatment, leading to their decriminalization in Colorado and Oregon.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: El Paso police arrest suspected LSD, magic mushrooms dealer
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