IUS prof charged after police uncover ‘very large’ mushroom grow operation

NEW ALBANY — An Indiana University Southeast professor and her two sons are facing felony drug charges after police said they uncovered a “very large psilocybin mushroom grow operation” inside their Floyd County home.

Documents filed in Floyd Superior Court 1 on Thursday show that Anne E. Allen, 68, of New Albany is charged with a Level 2 felony for dealing in a schedule 1 controlled substance. The charge alleges that Allen did “knowingly or intentionally possess with intent to manufacture, finance the manufacture of, deliver, or finance the delivery” of at least 28 grams of psilocybin mushrooms.

Allen is a fine arts and art history professor at IUS in New Albany. According to the IUS website, she has taught at the university since 1994.

A probable cause affidavit states police executed a search warrant Tuesday morning at Allen’s residence along French Creek Road. Allen and her two sons were present and provided a key to police for an outbuilding on the property.

Floyd County Police Sgt. Joel White stated in the affidavit that after entering the building he believed there to be a “very large psilocybin mushroom grow operation” inside.

White said the building had a kitchen, bathroom and a downstairs room. There was an appliance in the kitchen where the stove should have been and it contained bags of seeds, according to the affidavit. White detailed he observed inside the building stacks of shelves, long tube lights and other materials, which are commonly used in grow operations including testing kits, jars with liquids and a steel air purifier.

The search revealed a large plastic tub with dried mushrooms inside, glass jars containing marijuana and about 50 additional tubs with a fungus-like material inside, according to the affidavit.

More bags of dried mushrooms and fresh mushrooms were found in the main house, according to the affidavit. One bag of the fresh and one bag of the dried mushrooms were tested and came back positive for psilocybin.

According to the affidavit, Allen was asked what the mushrooms were and she responded “they are oyster mushrooms that I use to thicken soup and for when I get the munchies.”

Officers searched the bedroom of one of her sons, Joseph F. Allen, 29, and discovered a safe “with a large amount of LSD, hundreds of small Ziploc type bags, suspected spice, $4,220 in cash and a hand written budget totaling costs and deposits for two bank accounts totaling $79,800 between May and December,” White said in the affidavit.

After all of the drugs from the property were collected and weighed, police said they found 295 pounds of psilocybin infused brown liquid, more than 3.5 pounds of dried psilocybin mushrooms, about 3 pounds of marijuana, 6 grams of blotter paper squares of LSD paper, 29 grams of suspected spice, 2.58…