A Southern California man dosed his two young children with hallucinogenic mushrooms and enlisted one of them to distribute the drugs to his peers for profit, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Friday.
Randal Vance, 32, of Fallbrook, admitted as part of a plea agreement to providing his 9 and 11-year-old sons with psilocybin capsules around October 2023. According to federal officials, the man gave his sons the drugs every other day, then increased the dosage to every day by 2024.
Vance also admitted to giving psilocybin capsules to his oldest son to sell to his friends, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Authorities said the man produced the drugs at locations in Fallbrook and Bonsall in San Diego County. He then sold dried and freeze-dried psilocybin mushrooms as well as chocolates and capsules containing the hallucinogen via two websites and an Instagram page, federal officials said. Vance then enlisted his oldest son and his wife, Rebecca Vance, to distribute the drugs to others.
The operation was put to a halt when a search warrant was executed at the drugs’ production site on October 2024, federal authorities said. Officers found more than 200 pounds of fresh psilocybin mushrooms, 53 pounds of dried psilocybin mushrooms, five pounds of psilocybin capsules and equipment to grow and harvest the mushrooms. Six firearms were also seized from the properties.
Vance, his wife, and an accomplice who was identified as 34-year-old Keir Ceballos-Rivera were arrested in connection with the operation. Rebecca Vance and Ceballos-Rivera pleaded guilty in the case and are awaiting trial.
Randal Vance pleaded guilty to multiple drug charges. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 18.