Authorities in Southern California seized over $1 million in various dangerous narcotics and arrested a 42-year-old man in connection with the bust.
The Kern County Sheriff’s Office announced the discovery in a statement on Tuesday after a team of narcotics detectives from the force executed a search warrant on Jan. 7 at an Oildale residence—a town located about three miles northwest of Bakersfield.
David Jackson and his two juvenile children were present at the residence located on E. McCord Avenue when investigators executed the warrant. He has been accused of operating a DMT (dimethyltryptamine) extraction lab and being involved in narcotics sales.
Jackson is facing charges of child endangerment, possession of a controlled substance for sales, manufacturing a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance while being armed with a loaded firearm, and for maintaining a residence for narcotics sales, according to the statement.
He is being held at the Central Receiving Facility (CRF) and is pending future court proceedings, police added.
Child Protective Services (CPS) has since taken custody of his two children, who authorities have identified as an 8 and 9-year-old child. The sheriff’s office said the two children lived in a poor condition inside the residence while being within the presence of the drug extraction lab and various dangerous chemicals.
The drug bust was performed by High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) detectives, a program created by U.S. Congress to provide assistance to federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies operating in areas determined to be critical drug-trafficking regions across the nation, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration website.
The agency said they discovered nearly 23 pounds of the hallucinogen dimethyltryptamine (DMT) worth an estimated street value of $1,040,568, according to the sheriff’s office.
Besides the DMT, detectives also seized about three pounds of Psilocybin mushrooms with a street value of about $13,880, LSD tabs and vials containing liquid LSD worth $3,900, and 10 pounds of marijuana with an estimated worth of $10,000.
The sheriff’s office also said a loaded firearm, currency consistent with narcotics sales, and small amounts of methamphetamine and cocaine were recovered from the residence.
