Selling Fake Drugs Because God Told Him To
David E. Brady, 45, from New York, was on a strange mission from God. Well, that is, according to what he told authorities as he was arrested with over 1,000 in fake drugs at the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Manchester, Tennessee. Bonnaroo is an annual four-day music festival on a 700-acre farm about 60 miles southeast of Nashville. When handcuffed, Brady was found to be in possession of more than 1,000 doses of LSD, 22 bags of fake shrooms, 37 fake pills, 20 bags of fake cocaine and some fake heroin, which he displayed in the form of an incense stick made to look like the black tar version of the drug. His inventory was rather shocking at first glance, and could put the worst criminals to shame.
Brady was sitting in tent on the lawn of the festival holding a hefty bag of what appeared to be narcotics when law enforcement noted his odd stack. He threw it behind him as officers approached. When he stood up, however, he had a bag of mushrooms hanging from his waist belt, according to a press release issued by Lucky Knott, a spokesman for the sheriff’s department. He was then searched and that’s when the remainder of the imitation drugs were discovered and Brady told officers about his strange mission.
While the world is in the middle of a paralyzing opioid epidemic, and law enforcement and medical personnel are struggling to find a solution to the overwhelming numbers of overdoses and deaths, Brady apparently thought he was being righteous and told police he was doing the world of music a favor by keeping party goers sober. By selling his fake stock, he felt he was “doing the work of God”. However, law enforcement didn’t see his scheme as a noble one. Not at all. To them, Brady was still marketing the drugs and selling them as drugs, and most states have imitation drug laws that prohibit the sale of alternatives, particularly when the seller presents them to to his clients as real. If an individual is harmed after ingesting an alternative, the seller can be charged with a felony, manslaughter or even murder depending on the extent of the result. There is no telling what imitation drug sellers use to make fake drugs, and sometimes even legal options, such as bath salts, are just as deadly. Even the most well-intended seller cannot monitor how an alternative will be taken.
In searching his background, authorities discovered this wasn’t Brady’s first run in with the law. The self-proclaimed servant of God was already wanted in Franklin County, Arkansas, on a felony bench warrant. The previous crime has not been released, and it’s unclear if he was arrested for a similar deed. Upon contacting authorities in Arkansas, they said that state would extradite Brady so Tennesee could pursue legal action in the current case, according to his arrest warrant. Brady was charged with two counts of possession of counterfeit controlled substance and is being held in the Coffee County Jail on a $120,000 bail until his court date on August 11.
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Man Arrested With Over 1,000 Fake Drugs at Bonnaroo Music Festival
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