MISSOURI STATE HIGHWAY PATROL
a division of the
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY

Division of Drug and Crime Control - P.O. Box 568 - Jefferson City, Mo. 65102


News Release

For further information please contact: Corporal Erik Eidson
(573) 522-0980
03182011
March 18, 2011

EMPHASIS: Drug Investigation

Captain Kyle Marquart, director of the Division of Drug and Crime Control, announces the results of a joint narcotics investigation in Montgomery County.

On Friday March 11, 2011, members of the East Central Drug Task Force, along with deputies from the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department and troopers from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, executed a search warrant in rural Montgomery County. As a result of the search warrant, a large psilocybin mushroom growing operation, several pounds of illegal mushrooms, and several weapons were seized. Joseph Fry, 51, of Montgomery City, Missouri, was arrested and charged with possession of a weapon by a felon and manufacture of a controlled substance. Fry was held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $50,000 bond.

The East Central Drug Task Force is a multi-jurisdictional drug task force. Its members include the sheriff's departments of Audrain, Montgomery, and Warren counties, the police departments of Mexico, Montgomery City, and Bowling Green, along with the Missouri State Highway Patrol. The East Central Drug Task Force is governed by a board of directors and is coordinated by the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

The above charges for which Fry was arrested are mere accusations and are not evidence of guilt. Evidence in support of these charges must be presented before a court of competent jurisdiction whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.