Boy charged with mushroom possession

Contributed Report
Published: July 14, 2008

A 17-year-old Culpeper boy faces charges of possession with intent to distribute mushrooms and possession of paraphernalia Sunday afternoon, according to town spokesman Wally Bunker.

Officers responded to a disturbance call about 3:15 p.m. Sunday involving the 17-year-old boy and an 18-year-old woman in the 300 block of Clay Street. According to the report, the boy and his girlfriend were in a car and arguing. A witness told police the boy was pulling on the woman’s leg, shouting and making threats.

When police arrived, the car was gone. Police and sheriff’s deputies located the white car on the 500 block of Fairfax Street. After gaining consent from the boy, police searched the car and found a cloth lunch box on the back seat containing mushrooms, scales, baggies, a cigar and cash.

According to the report, the boy said he collected mushrooms growing in “cow pies” from locations around the county and got high from them. He is being held in the Blue Ridge Detention Center in Charlottesville.