Mushroom discovery surprises Sharon cops

SHARON, Pa. — Though mushrooms can often be found growing wild, what Sharon police officers found last month in a Meek Street home was a whole different story.

Nearly 100 Mason jars and blue plastic storage totes inside were cultivating hallucinogenic mushrooms. They are illegal in this country and are considered in the same class of drugs as LSD.

“We’ve run into a few people who’ve taken them before, but never growing them,” said Sharon Police Chief Mike Menster. “The whole house was filled with these containers and mason jars.”

The mushrooms are so rare that police didn’t know what they were at first. They had to call in a special unit of the Pennsylvania State Police to help identify them.

Though the state police could identify the drugs, a 22-year veteran of the vice squad, which covers a five-county region, including Mercer County, said he’s never run across them before they were found in this Sharon home.

For the complete story, see Sunday's Vindicator and Vindy.com.