Four arrested in synthetic drug case - Daily Journal Online

Police are seeking charges on four Farmington residents in relation to a drug case worked earlier this month. Officers seized amounts of marijuana, synthetic marijuana, drug paraphernalia, and a rarely-seen synthetic drug known as 25i.

The case began coming together when the city's drug officer received information on June 4. The details were consistent with previous informant details and foot traffic observed by officers. The drug agent obtained a search warrant for a home on Doss Street.

Officers went to the home and served the warrant. Inside they found four adults ages 17 to 22. The resident of the home, James Dean Crump, age 19, was among the group found inside.

During the search police found quantities of marijuana, synthetic marijuana, what appeared to be 25i, drug paraphernalia and $479 cash.

From information obtained during the service of the search warrant, more details came out about possible drugs at an apartment in the Hilltop Place complex, as well as drugs stashed on property off Loughboro Road west of town.

Officers received consent to search both properties and found a bag of marijuana at the unit in Hilltop Place. At the rural property they found a five gallon bucket which contained a trash bag holding synthetic marijuana. A field test showed the contents tested positive for THC, the desired ingredient in marijuana.

Chief of Police Rick Baker said reports were forwarded to the St. Francois County Prosecuting Attorney's office seeking charges related to the drug investigation.

Crump, the occupant of record on the first residence searched, has already been charged with counts of "Dist/Del/Manf/Produce Or Attempt To Or Possess W/Intent To Dist/Del/Manf/Produce A Controlled Substance" and "Possession Of Controlled Substance 35 Grams Or Less Of Marijuana" stemming from the case.

As for the 25i, Baker said it has not been found with any frequency in Farmington to date. Research shows it is a "derivative of the substituted phenethylamine psychedelic 2C-I discovered (sometime between 2003 and 2006).

"The drug is an extremely potent serotonin agonist and, due to its psychedelic effects and ambiguous legal status, a designer drug with reports of abuse beginning in 2010. Reports of death and significant injury have been attributed to the use of 25I prompting some governments to control its possession, production and sale."