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Lancaster deputies investigate psychedelic mushrooms being grown in vacant house

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Deputies went to investigate a trespassing call at a vacant house and found a man and a woman growing psychedelic mushrooms and stealing electricity to do it, a sheriff's sergeant said early today.

Joseph Scott Jackson, 37, and Angela Coffey, 41, were being held at the sheriff's Lancaster Station jail, Lancaster sheriff's Sgt. Slade Carrizosa said. Their bail was set at $50,000 each, according to jail records.

The "magic mushroom" farm was found in a house on 159th Street East in Lake Los Angeles about 1:30 p.m. Monday, Carrizosa said.

Deputies found evidence of a psilocybin growing operation, as well as several firearms, said sheriff's Sgt. Andrew Sandor.

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The house was about 1,600 square feet with three or four bedrooms, and the mushroom farm was confined to one area, Carrizosa said.

Unlike marijuana cultivation, growing mushrooms requires no special lights.

Deputies from the Narcotics Bureau called in a hazardous-materials team due to the possibility of toxic spores in the house, Sandor said.

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