A Ruston woman and a Mesquite, Texas, man were arrested Sunday after Grambling Police responding to a verbal disturbance found suspected psilocybin mushrooms in a residence.
Janikla Coleman, 31, of Ruston, and Thaddeus Jackson, 27, of Mesquite, were arrested at 8:04 p.m. Oct. 25 by the Grambling Police Department.
According to arrest affidavits, officers were dispatched at about 8 p.m. to the residence. Jackson told them he had been living there with Coleman and that she was refusing to let him retrieve his belongings.
Coleman, who appeared visibly angry, said Jackson owed her money and that his laptop and microphone were no longer inside. After speaking with an officer, she allowed Jackson and the officer inside to gather his things.
While Jackson was retrieving a container, the officer saw three large, clear bags holding a substance suspected to be psilocybin mushrooms, along with a thermometer. Based on the officer’s training and experience, the bags, their contents and the thermometer raised his suspicion that the mushrooms may have been used for cultivation, storage or distribution.
Both were advised of their rights and said they understood them.
Jackson said he didn’t know who owned the container. Coleman said it belonged to Jackson and that she had only realized that day what was inside. She also provided text messages in which she had previously communicated with Jackson about the mushrooms.
“I don’t want no shrooms in my living room anyway,” Coleman said in one of the messages.
Both were handcuffed and taken to the Grambling Police Department, where the suspected mushrooms weighed 8 pounds, 4.45 ounces. They were then booked into Lincoln Parish Detention Center on one count of possession with intent to distribute a Schedule I drug.
This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named or shown in photographs or video as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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